THE   CELEBRITY 


BY   THE    SAME  AUTHOR 

RICHARD    CARVEL. 

THE    CRISIS. 

THE    CROSSING. 

MR.  KEE CAN'S  ELOPEMENT. 


THE    CELEBRITY 


AN  EPISODE 


BY 

WINSTON    CHURCHILL 


gorfc 
THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

LONDON  :    MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LTD. 


All  rights  reserved 


COPYRIGHT,  1897, 
BY  THE  MACMILLAN   COMPANY. 

Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  January,  181 
Special  edition,  in  paper  covers,  June,  1905. 


NortoooU 

J.  S.  Cashing  &  Co.  — Berwick  &  Smith  C». 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


TO 


albert 


WITH  THE  AFFECTIONATE  REGARDS  OF 
THE  AUTHOR 


226730 


THE  CELEBRITY 


CHAPTER   I 

I  WAS  about  to  say  that  I  had  known  the 
Celebrity  from  the  time  he  wore  kilts.  But  I 
see  I  shall  have  to  amend  that,  because  he  was 
not  a  celebrity  then,  nor,  indeed,  did  he  achieve 
fame  until  some  time  after  I  had  left  New  York 
for  the  West.  In  the  old  days,  to  my  common 
place  and  unobserving  mind,  he  gave  no  evi 
dences  of  genius  whatsoever.  He  never  read 
me  any  of  his  manuscripts,  which  I  can  safely 
say  he  would  have  done  had  he  written  any  at 
that  time,  and  therefore  my  lack  of  detection  of 
his  promise  may  in  some  degree  be  pardoned. 
But  he  had  then  none  of  the  oddities  and  man 
nerisms  which  I  hold  to  be  inseparable  from 
genius,  and  which  struck  my  attention  in  after 
days  when  I  came  in  contact  with  the  Celebrity. 
Hence  I  am  constrained  to  the  belief  that  his 
eccentricity  must  have  arrived  with  his  genius. 


felebrity 


and  both  after  the  age  of  twenty-five.  Far  be 
it  from  me  to  question  the  talents  of  one  upon 
whose  head  has  been  set  the  laurel  of  fame  ! 

When  I  knew  him  he  was  a  young  man  with 
out  frills  or  foibles,  with  an  excellent  head  for 
business.  He  was  starting  in  to  practise  law  in 
a  downtown  office  with  the  intention  of  becom 
ing  a  great  corporation  lawyer.  He  used  to 
drop  into  my  chambers  once  in  a  while  to  smoke, 
and  was  first-rate  company.  When  I  gave  a 
dinner  there  was  generally  a  cover  laid  for  him. 
I  liked  the  man  for  his  own  sake,  and  even  had 
he  promised  to  turn  out  a  celebrity  it  would 
have  had  no  weight  with  me.  I  look  upon 
notoriety  with  the  same  indifference  as  on  the 
buttons  on  a  man's  shirt-front,  or  the  crest  on 
his  note-paper. 

When  I  went  West,  he  fell  out  of  my  life. 
I  probably  should  not  have  given  him  another 
thought  had  I  not  caught  sight  of  his  name,  in 
old  capitals,  on  a  daintily  covered  volume  in  a 
book-stand.  I  had  little  time  or  inclination  for 
reading  fiction  ;  my  days  were  busy  ones,  and 
my  nights  were  spent  with  law  books.  But  I 
bought  the  volume  out  of  curiosity,  wondering 
the  while  whether  he  could  have  written  it.  I 


The  Celebrity  3 

was  soon  set  at  rest,  for  the  dedication  was  to  a 
young  woman  of  whom  I  had  often  heard  him 
speak.  The  volume  was  a  collection  of  short 
stories.  On  these  I  did  not  feel  myself  compe 
tent  to  sit  in  judgment,  for  my  personal  taste  in 
fiction,  if  I  could  be  said  to  have  had  any,  took 
another  turn.  The  stories  dealt  mainly  with 
the  affairs  of  aristocratic  young  men  and  aristo 
cratic  young  women,  and  were  differentiated  to 
fit  situations  only  met  with  in  that  society  which 
does  not  have  to  send  descriptions  of  its  func 
tions  to  the  newspapers.  The  stories  did  not 
seem  to  me  to  touch  life.  They  were  plainly 
intended  to  have  a  bracing  moral  effect,  and 
perhaps  had  this  result  for  the  people  at  whom 
they  were  aimed.  They  left  with  me  the  im 
pression  of  a  well-delivered  stereopticon  lecture, 
with  characters  about  as  life-like  as  the  shadows 
on  the  screen,  and  whisking  on  and  off,  at  the 
mercy  of  the  operator.  Their  charm  to  me  lay 
in  the  manner  of  the  telling,  the  style,  which 
I  am  forced  to  admit  was  delightful. 

But  the  book  I  had  bought  was  a  success,  — 
a  great  success,  if  the  newspapers  and  the  re 
ports  of  the  sales  were  to  be  trusted.  I  read 
the  criticisms  out  of  curiosity  more  than  any 


4  The  Celebrity 

other  prompting,  and  no  two  of  them  were 
alike :  they  veered  from  extreme  negative  to 
extreme  positive.  I  have  to  confess  that  it 
gratified  me  not  a  little  to  find  the  negatives 
for  the  most  part  %of  my  poor  way  of  thinking. 
The  positives,  on  the  other  hand,  declared  the 
gifted  young;  author  to  have  found  a  manner 
of  treatment  of  social  life  entirely  new.  Other 
critics  still  insisted  it  was  social  ridicule :  but 
if  this  were  so,  the  satire  was  too  delicate  for 
ordinary  detection. 

However,  with  the  dainty  volume  my  quon 
dam  friend  sprang  into  fame.  At  the  same 
time  he  cast  off  the  chrysalis  of  a  commonplace 
existence.  He  at  once  became  the  hero  of  the 
young  women  of  the  country  from  Portland, 
Maine,  to  Portland,  Oregon,  many  of  whom 
wrote  him  letters  and  asked  him  for  his  photo 
graph.  He  was  asked  to  tell  what  he  really 
meant  by  the  vague  endings  of  this  or  that 
story.  And  then  I  began  to  hear  rumors  that 
his  head  was  turning.  These  I  discredited,  of 
course.  If  true,  I  thought  it  but  another  proof 
of  the  undermining  influence  of  feminine  flat 
tery,  which  few  men,  and  fewer  young  men,  can 
stand.  But  I  watched  his  career  with  interest. 


The  Celebrity  5 

He  published  other  books,  of  a  high  moral  tone 
and  unapproachable  principle,  which  I  read 
carefully  for  some  ray  of  human  weakness,  for 
some  stroke  of  nature  untrammelled  by  the 
calling  code  of  polite  society.  But  in  vain. 


CHAPTER   II 

IT  was  by  a  mere  accident  that  I  went  West, 
some  years  ago,  and  settled  in  an  active  and 
thriving  town  near  one  of  the  Great  Lakes. 
The  air  and  bustle  and  smack  of  life  about  the 
place  attracted  me,  and  I  rented  an  office  and 
continued  to  read  law,  from  force  of  habit,  I 
suppose.  My  experience  in  the  service  of  one 
of  the  most  prominent  of  New  York  lawyers 
stood  me  in  good  stead,  and  gradually,  in  addi 
tion  to  a  heterogeneous  business  of  mines  and 
lumber,  I  began  to  pick  up  a  few  clients.  But 
in  all  probability  I  should  be  still  pegging  away 
at  mines  and  lumber,  and  drawing  up  occasional 
leases  and  contracts,  had  it  not  been  for  Mr. 
Farquhar  Fenelon  Cooke,  of  Philadelphia.  Al 
though  it  has  been  specifically  written  that 
promotion  to  a  young  man  comes  neither  from 
the  East  nor  the  West,  nor  yet  from  the  South, 
Mr.  Cooke  arrived  from  the  East,  and  in  the 
nick  of  time  for  me. 

I  was  indebted  to  Farrar  for  Mr.  Cooke's 
6 


The  Celebrity  7 

acquaintance,  and  this  obligation  I  have  since 
in  vain  endeavored  to  repay.  Farrar's  profes 
sion  was  forestry:  a  graduate  of  an  eastern 
college,  he  had  gone  abroad  to  study,  and  had 
roughed  it  with  the  skilled  woodsmen  of  the 
black  forest.  Mr.  Cooke,  whom  he  represented, 
had  large  tracts  of  land  in  these  parts,  and 
Farrar  likewise  received  an  income  from  the 
state,  whose  legislature  had  at  last  opened  its 
eyes  to  the  timber  depredations  and  had  begun 
to  buy  up  reserves.  We  had  rooms  in  the 
same  Elizabethan  building  at  the  corner  of 
Main  and  Superior  streets,  but  it  was  more 
than  a  year  before  I  got  farther  than  a  nod 
with  him.  Farrar's  nod  in  itself  was  a  repul 
sion,  and  once  you  had  seen  it  you  mentally 
scored  him  from  the  list  of  your  possible 
friends.  Besides  this  freezing  exterior  he  pos 
sessed  a  cutting  and  cynical  tongue,  and  had 
but  little  confidence  in  the  human  race.  These 
qualities  did  not  tend  to  render  him  popular 
in  a  Western  town,  if  indeed  they  would  have 
recommended  him  anywhere,  and  I  confess  to 
have  thought  him  a  surly  enough  fellow,  being 
guided  by  general  opinion  and  superficial  ob 
servation.  Afterwards  the  town  got  to  know 


8  The  Celebrity 

him,  and  if  it  did  not  precisely  like  him,  it 
respected  him,  which  perhaps  is  better.  And 
he  gained  at  least  a  few  warm  friends,  among 
whom  I  deem  it  an  honor  to  be  mentioned. 

Farrar's  contempt  for  consequences  finally 
brought  him  an  unsought-for  reputation.  Ad 
miration  for  him  was  born  the  day  he  pushed 
O'Meara  out  of  his  office  and  down  a  flight 
of  stairs  because  he  had  undertaken  to  suggest 
that  which  should  be  done  with  the  timber  in 
Jackson  County.  By  this  summary  proceeding 
Farrar  lost  the  support  of  a  faction,  O'Meara 
being  a  power  in  the  state  and  chairman  of  the 
forestry  board  besides.  But  he  got  rid  of  in 
terference  from  that  day  forth. 

Oddly  enough  my  friendship  with  Farrar  was 
an  indirect  result  of  the  incident  I  have  just 
related.  A  few  mornings  after,  I  was  seated 
in  my  office  trying  to  concentrate  my  mind  on 
page  twenty  of  volume  ten  of  the  Records  when 
I  was  surprised  by  O'Meara  himself,  accompa 
nied  by  two  gentlemen  whom  I  remembered  to 
have  seen  on  various  witness  stands.  O'Meara 
was  handsomely  dressed,  and  his  necktie  made 
but  a  faint  pretence  of  concealing  the  gorgeous 
diamond  in  his  shirt-front.  But  his  face  wore 


The  Celebrity  9 

an  aggrieved  air,  and  his  left  hand  was  neatly 
bound  in  black  and  tucked  into  his  coat.  He 
sank  comfortably  into  my  wicker  chair,  which 
creaked  a  protest,  and  produced  two  yellow- 
spotted  cigars,  chewing  the  end  of  one  with 
much  apparent  relish  and  pushing  the  other 
at  me.  His  two  friends  remained  respectfully 
standing.  I  guessed  at  what  was  coming,  and 
braced  myself  by  refusing  the  cigar,  —  not  a 
great  piece  of  self-denial,  by  the  way.  But  a 
case  meant  much  to  me  then,  and  I  did  seri 
ously  regret  that  O'Meara  was  not  a  possible 
client.  At  any  rate,  my  sympathy  with  Farrar 
in  the  late  episode  put  him  out  of  the  ques 
tion. 

O'Meara  cleared  his  throat  and  began  gin 
gerly  to  undo  the  handkerchief  on  his  hand. 
Then  he  brought  his  fist  down  on  the  table 
so  that  the  ink  started  from  the  stand  and  his 
cheeks  shook  with  the  effort. 

"  I'll  make  him  pay  for  this ! "  he  shouted, 
with  an  oath. 

The  other  gentlemen  nodded  their  approval, 
while  I  put  the  inkstand  in  a  place  of  safety. 

"  You're  a  pretty  bright  young  man,  Mr. 
Crocker,"  he  went  on,  a  look  of  cunning  com- 


10  The  Celebrity 

ing  into  his  little  eyes,  "but  I  guess  you  ain't 
had  too  many  cases  to  object  to  a  big  one." 

"Did  you  come  here  to  tell  me  that?"  I 
asked. 

He  looked  me  over  queerly,  and  evidently 
decided  that  I  meant  no  effrontery. 

"  I  came  here  to  get  your  opinion,"  he  said, 
holding  up  a  swollen  hand,  "  but  I  want  to  tell 
you  first  that  I  ought  to  get  ten  thousand,  not  a 
cent  less.  That  scoundrelly  young  upstart  —  " 

"  If  you  want  my  opinion,"  I  replied,  trying 
to  speak  slowly,  "it  is  that  Mr.  Farrar  ought 
to  get  ten  thousand  dollars.  And  I  think  that 
would  be  only  a  moderate  reward." 

I  did  not  feel  equal  to  pushing  him  into  the 
street,  as  Farrar  had  done,  and  I  have  now  but 
a  vague  notion  of  what  he  said  and  how  he  got 
there.  But  I  remember  that  half  an  hour  after 
wards  a  man  congratulated  me  openly  in  the 
bank. 

That  night  I  found  a  new  friend,  although 
at  the  time  I  thought  Farrar's  visit  to  me  the 
accomplishment  of  a  perfunctory  courtesy  to 
a  man  who  had  refused  to  take  a  case  against 
him.  It  was  very  characteristic  of  Farrar  not 
to  mention  this  until  he  rose  to  go.  About 


The  Celebrity  II 

half-past  eight  he  sauntered  in  upon  me,  plac 
ing  his  hat  precisely  on  the  rack,  and  we  talked 
until  ten,  which  is  to  say  that  I  talked  and  he 
commented.  His  observations  were  apt,  if  a 
trifle  caustic,  and  it  is  needless  to  add  that  I 
found  them  entertaining.  As  he  was  leaving 
he  held  out  his  hand. 

"I  hear  that  O'Meara  called  on  you  to-day," 
he  said  diffidently. 

"Yes,"  I  answered,  smiling,  "I  was  sorry  not 
to  have  been  able  to  take  his  case." 

I  sat  up  for  an  hour  or  more,  trying  to  arrive 
at  some  conclusion  about  Farrar,  but  at  length 
I  gave  it  up.  His  visit  had  in  it  something 
impulsive  which  I  could  not  reconcile  with  his 
manner.  He  surely  owed  me  nothing  for  refus 
ing  a  case  against  him,  and  must  have  known 
that  my  motives  for  so  doing  were  not  personal. 
But  if  I  did  not  understand  him,  I  liked  him 
decidedly  from  that  night  forward,  and  I  hoped 
that  his  advances  had  sprung  from  some  other 
motive  than  politeness.  And  indeed  we  gradu 
ally  drifted  into  a  quasi-friendship.  It  became 
his  habit,  as  he  went  out  in  the  morning,  to 
drop  into  my  room  for  a  match,  and  I  returned 
the  compliment  by  borrowing  his  coal  oil  when 


12  The  Celebrity 

mine  was  out.  At  such  times  we  would  sit,  or 
more  frequently  stand,  discussing  the  affairs  of 
the  town  and  of  the  nation,  for  politics  was 
an  easy  and  attractive  subject  to  us  both.  It 
was  only  in  a  general  way  that  we  touched 
upon  each  other's  concerns,  this  being  danger 
ous  ground  with  Farrar,  who  was  ever  ready  to 
close  up  at  anything  resembling  a  confidence. 
As  for  me,  I  hope  I  am  not  curious,  but  I  own 
to  having  had  a  curiosity  about  Farrar's  Phila 
delphia  patron,  to  whom  Farrar  made  but  slight 
allusions.  His  very  name  —  Farquhar  Fenelon 
Cooke  —  had  an  odd  sound  which  somehow  be 
tokened  an  odd  man,  and  there  was  more  than 
one  bit  of  gossip  afloat  in  the  town  of  which  he 
was  the  subject,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
he  had  never  honored  it  with  a  visit.  The 
gossip  was  the  natural  result  of  Mr.  Cooke's 
large  properties  in  the  vicinity.  It  has  never 
been  my  habit,  however,  to  press  a  friend  on 
such  matters,  and  I  could  easily  understand  and 
respect  Farrar's  reluctance  to  talk  of  one  from 
whom  he  received  an  income. 

I  had  occasion,  in  the  May  of  that  year,  to 
make  a  somewhat  long  business  trip  to  Chicago, 
and  on  my  return,  much  to  my  surprise,  I  found 


The  Celebrity  13 

Farrar  awaiting  me  in  the  railroad  station.  He 
smiled  his  wonted  fraction  by  way  of  greeting, 
stopped  to  buy  a  newspaper,  and  finally  leading 
me  to  his  buggy,  turned  and  drove  out  of  town. 
I  was  completely  mystified  at  such  an  unusual 
proceeding. 

"What's  this  for?"  I  asked. 

"  I  shan't  bother  you  long,"  he  said  ;  "  I  sim 
ply  wanted  the  chance  to  talk  to  you  before 
you  got  to  your  office.  I  have  a  Philadelphia 
client,  a  Mr.  Cooke,  of  whom  you  may  have 
heard  me  speak.  Since  you  have  been  away 
the  railroad  has  brought  suit  against  him.  The 
row  is  about  the  lands  west  of  the  Washita,  on 
Copper  Rise.  It's  the  devil  if  he  loses,  for  the 
ground  is  worth  the  dollar  bills  to  cover  it.  I 
telegraphed,  and  he  got  here  yesterday.  He 
wants  a  lawyer,  and  I  mentioned  you." 

There  came  over  me  then  in  a  flash  a  com 
prehension  of  Farrar  which  I  had  failed  to 
grasp  before.  But  I  was  quite  overcome  at  his 
suggestion. 

"  Isn't  it  rather  a  big  deal  to  risk  me  on  ? " 
I  said.  "Better  go  to  Chicago  and  get  Parks. 
He's  an  expert  in  that  sort  of  thing."  I  am 
afraid  my  expostulation  was  weak. 


14  The  Celebrity 

"I  merely  spoke  of  you,"  replied  Farrar, 
coolly,  "  and  he  has  gone  around  to  your  office. 
He  knows  about  Parks,  and  if  he  wants  him 
he'll  probably  take  him.  It  all  depends  upon 
how  you  strike  Cooke  whether  you  get  the 
case  or  not.  I  have  never  told  you  about 
him,"  he  added  with  some  hesitation  ;  "he's  a 
trifle  queer,  but  a  good  fellow  at  the  bottom. 
I  should  hate  to  see  him  lose  his  land." 

"  How  is  the  railroad  mixed  up  in  it  ? "  I 
asked. 

"  I  don't  know  much  about  law,  but  it  would 
seem  as  if  they  had  a  pretty  strong  case,"  he 
answered.  He  went  on  to  tell  me  what  he 
knew  of  the  matter  in  his  clean,  pithy  sen 
tences,  often  brutally  cynical,  as  though  he 
had  not  a  spark  of  interest  in  any  of  it. 
Mr.  Cooke's  claim  to  the  land  came  from  a 
maternal  great-uncle,  long  since  deceased,  who 
had  been  a  settler  in  these  regions.  The 
railroad  answered  that  they  had  bought  the 
land  with  other  properties  from  the  man, 
also  deceased,  to  whom  the  old  gentleman 
was  alleged  to  have  sold  it.  Incidentally  I 
learned  something  of  Mr.  Cooke's  maternal 
ancestry. 


The  Celebrity  15 

We  drove  back  to  the  office  with  some  con 
cern  on  my  part  at  the  prospect  of  so  large 
a  case.  Sunning  himself  on  the  board  steps, 
I  saw  for  the  first  time  Mr.  Farquhar  Fenelon 
Cooke.  He  was  dressed  out  in  broad  gaiters 
and  bright  tweeds,  like  an  English  tourist,  and 
his  face  might  have  belonged  to  Dagon,  idol 
of  the  Philistines.  A  silver  snaffle  on  a  heavy 
leather  watch  guard  which  connected  the  pock 
ets  of  his  corduroy  waistcoat,  together  with  a 
huge  gold  stirrup  in  his  Ascot  tie,  sufficiently 
proclaimed  his  tastes.  But  I  found  myself  con 
tinually  returning  to  the  countenance,  and  I 
still  think  I  could  have  modelled  a  better  face 
out  of  putty.  The  mouth  was  rather  small, 
thick-lipped,  and  put  in  at  an  odd  angle ;  the 
brown  eyes  were  large,  and  from  their  habit 
of  looking  up  at  one  lent  to  the  round  face  an 
incongruous  solemnity.  But  withal  there  was 
a  perceptible  acumen  about  the  man  which  was 
puzzling  in  the  extreme. 

"  How  are  you,  old  man  ?  "  said  he,  hardly 
waiting  for  Farrar  to  introduce  me.  "Well,  I 
hope."  It  was  pure  cordiality,  nothing  more. 
He  seemed  to  bubble  over  with  it. 

I  said  I  was  well,  and  invited  him  inside. 


16  The  Celebrity 

"  No,"  he  said  ;  "  I  like  the  look  of  the  town. 
We  can  talk  business  here." 

And  talk  business  he  did,  straight  and  to  the 
point,  so  fast  and  indistinctly  that  at  times  I 
could  scarcely  follow  him.  I  answered  hisjapid 
questions  briefly,  and  as  best  I  knew  how.  He 
wanted  to  know  what  chance  he  had  to  win  the 
suit,  and  I  told  him  there  might  be  other  fac 
tors  involved  beside  those  of  which  he  had 
spoken.  Plainly,  also,  that  the  character  of  his 
great-uncle  was  in  question,  an  intimation  which 
he  did  not  appear  to  resent.  But  that  there 
was  no  denying  the  fact  that  the  railroad  had 
a  strong  thing  of  it,  and  a  good  lawyer  into  the 
bargain. 

"And  don't  you  consider  yourself  a  good 
lawyer?"  he  cut  in. 

I  pointed  out  that  the  railroad  lawyer  was  a 
man  of  twice  my  age,  experience,  and  reputation. 

Without  more  ado,  and  before  either  Farrar 
or  myself  had  time  to  resist,  he  had  hooked  an 
arm  into  each  of  us,  and  we  were  all  three 
marching  down  the  street  in  the  direction  of 
his  hotel.  If  this  was  agony  for  me,  I  could 
see  that  it  was  keener  agony  for  Farrar.  And 
although  Mr.  Farquhar  Fenelon  Cooke  had 


The  Celebrity  17 

been  in  town  but  a  scant  twenty-four  hours, 
it  seemed  as  if  he  knew  more  of  its  inhabitants 
than  both  of  us  put  together.  Certain  it  is 
that  he  was  less  particular  with  his  acquaint 
ances.  He  hailed  the  most  astonishing  people 
with  an  easy  air  of  freedom,  now  releasing 
my  arm,  now  Farrar's,  to  salute.  He  always 
saluted.  He  stopped  to  converse  with  a  dozen 
men  we  had  never  seen,  many  of  whom  smelled 
strongly  of  the  stable,  and  he  invariably  intro 
duced  Farrar  as  the  forester  of  his  estate,  and 
me  as  his  lawyer  in  the  great  quarrel  with  the 
railroad,  until  I  began  to  wish  I  had  never 
heard  of  Blackstone.  And  finally  he  steered  us 
into  the  spacious  bar  of  the  Lake  House. 

The  next  morning  the  three  of  us  were  off 
early  for  a  look  at  the  contested  property.  It 
was  a  twenty-mile  drive,  and  the  last  eight  miles 
wound  down  the  boiling  Washita,  still  high  with 
the  melting  snows  of  the  pine  lands.  And  even 
here  the  snows  yet  slept  in  the  deeper  hollows, 
unconscious  of  the  budding  green  of  the  slopes. 
How  heartily  I  wished  Mr.  Farquhar  Fenelon 
Cooke  back  in  Philadelphia !  By  his  eternal 
accounts  of  his  Germantown  stables  and  of  the 
blue  ribbons  of  his  hackneys  he  killed  all  sense 


1 8  The  Celebrity 

of  pleasure  of  the  scene,  and  set  up  an  irritation 
that  was  well-nigh  unbearable.  At  length  we 
crossed  the  river,  climbed  the  foot-hills,  and 
paused  on  the  ridge.  Below  us  lay  the  quaint 
inn  and  scattered  cottages  of  Asquith,  and 
beyond  them  the  limitless  and  foam-flecked 
expanse  of  lake :  and  on  our  right,  lifting  from 
the  shore  by  easy  slopes  for  a  mile  at  stretch, 
Farrar  pointed  out  the  timbered  lands  of  Cop- 
per  Rise,  spread  before  us  like  a  map.  But 
the  appreciation  of  beauty  formed  no  part  of 
Mr.  Cooke's  composition, — that  is,  beauty  as 
Farrar  and  I  knew  it. 

"  If  you  win  that  case,  old  man,"  he  cried, 
striking  me  a  great  whack  between  the  shoulder- 
blades,  "  charge  any  fee  you  like ;  I'll  pay  it ! 
And  I'll  make  such  a  country-place  out  of  this 
as  was  never  seen  west  of  New  York  state,  and 
call  it  Mohair,  after  my  old  trotter.  I'll  put  a 
palace  on  that  clearing,  with  the  stables  just 
over  the  knoll.  They'll  beat  the  Germantown 
stables  a  whole  lap.  And  that  strip  of  level," 
he  continued,  pointing  to  a  thinly  timbered  bit, 
"will  hold  a  mile  track  nicely." 

Farrar  and  I  gasped  :  it  was  as  if  we  had 
tumbled  into  the  Washita. 


The  Celebrity  19 

"  It  will  take  money,  Mr.  Cooke,"  said  Farrar, 
"and  you  haven't  won  the  suit  yet." 

"Damn  the  money!"  said  Mr.  Cooke,  and 
we  knew  he  meant  it. 

Over  the  episodes  of  that  interminable  morn 
ing  it  will  be  better  to  pass  lightly.  It  was  spent 
by  Farrar  and  me  in  misery.  It  was  spent  by 
Mr.  Farquhar  Fenelon  Cooke  in  an  ecstasy  of 
enjoyment,  driving  over  and  laying  out  Mohair, 
and  I  must  admit  he  evinced  a  surprising  genius 
in  his  planning,  although,  according  to  Farrar, 
he  broke  every  sacred  precept  of  landscape 
gardening  again  and  again.  He  displayed  the 
enthusiasm  of  a  pioneer,  and  the  energy  of  a 
Napoleon.  And  if  he  were  too  ignorant  to 
accord  to  nature  a  word  of  praise,  he  had  the 
grace  and  intelligence  to  compliment  Farrar  on 
the  superb  condition  of  the  forests,  and  on  the 
judgment  shown  in  laying  out  the  roads,  which 
were  so  well  chosen  that  even  in  this  season 
they  were  well  drained  and  dry.  That  day,  too, 
my  views  were  materially  broadened,  and  I  re 
ceived  an  insight  into  the  methods  and  possi 
bilities  of  my  friend's  profession  sufficient  to 
instil  a  deeper  respect  both  for  it  and  for  him. 
The  crowded  spots  had  been  skilfully  thinned 


2O  The  Celebrity 

of  the  older  trees  to  give  the  younger  ones  a 
chance,  and  the  harmony  of  the  whole  had  been 
carefully  worked  out.  Now  we  drove  under 
dark  pines  and  hemlocks,  and  then  into  a 
lighter  relief  of  birches  and  wild  cherries,  or 
a  copse  of  young  beeches.  And  I  learned 
that  the  estate  had  not  only  been  paying  the 
taxes  and  its  portion  of  Farrar's  salary,  but  also 
a  considerable  amount  into  Mr.  Cooke's  pocket 
the  while  it  was  being  improved. 

Mr.  Cooke  made  his  permanent  quarters  at 
the  Lake  House,  and  soon  became  one  of  the 
best-known  characters  about  town.  He  seemed 
to  enjoy  his  popularity,  and  I  am  convinced  that 
he  would  have  been  popular  in  spite  of  his  now- 
famous  quarrel  with  the  railroad.  His  easy 
command  of  profanity,  his  generous  use  of 
money,  his  predilection  for  sporting  characters, 
of  whom  he  was  king ;  his  ready  geniality  and 
good-fellowship  alike  with  the  clerk  of  the  Lake 
House  or  the  Mayor,  not  to  mention  his  own 
undeniable  personality,  all  combined  to  make 
him  a  favorite.  He  had  his  own  especial  table 
in  the  dining-room,  called  all  the  waiters  by 
their  first  names,  and  they  fought  for  the  privi 
lege  of  attending  him.  He  likewise  called  the 


The  Celebrity  21 

barkeepers  by  their  first  names,  and  had  his 
own  particular  corner  of  the  bar,  where  none 
dared  intrude,  and  where  he  could  almost  inva 
riably  be  found  when  not  in  my  office.  From 
this  corner  he  dealt  out  cigars  to  the  deserving, 
held  stake  moneys,  decided  all  bets,  and  refereed 
all  differences.  His  name  appeared  in  the  per 
sonal  column  of  one  of  the  local  papers  on  the 
average  of  twice  a  week,  or  in  lieu  thereof  one 
of  his  choicest  stories  in  the  "  Notes  about 
Town  "  column. 

The  case  was  to  come  up  early  in  July,  and 
I  spent  most  of  my  time,  to  the  detriment  of 
other  affairs,  in  preparing  for  it.  I  was  greatly 
hampered  in  my  work  by  my  client,  who  filled 
my  office  with  his  tobacco-smoke  and  that  of 
his  friends,  and  he  took  it  very  much  for 
granted  that  he  was  going  to  win  the  suit. 
Fortune  had  always  played  into  his  hands,  he 
said,  and  I  had  no  little  difficulty  in  convincing 
him  that  matters  had  passed  from  his  hands 
into  mine.  In  this  I  believe  I  was  never  en 
tirely  successful.  I  soon  found,  too,  that  he 
had  no  ideas  whatever  on  the  value  of  dis 
cretion,  and  it  was  only  by  repeated  threats  of 
absolute  failure  that  I  prevented  our  secret 


22  The  Celebrity 

tactics  from  becoming  the  property  of  his 
sporting  fraternity  and  of  the  town. 

The  more  I  worked  on  the  case,  the  clearer 
it  became  to  me  that  Mr.  Farquhar  Fenelon 
Cooke's  great-uncle  had  been  either  a  consum 
mate  scoundrel  or  a  lunatic,  and  that  our  only 
hope  of  winning  must  be  based  on  proving  him 
one  or  the  other;  it  did  not  matter  much  which, 
for  my  expectations  at  best  were  small.  When 
I  had  at  length  settled  to  this  conclusion  I  con 
fided  it  as  delicately  as  possible  to  my  client, 
who  was  sitting  at  the  time  with  his  feet  cocked 
up  on  the  office  table,  reading  a  pink  news 
paper. 

"  Which1!!  be  the  easier  to  prove  ? "  he  asked, 
without  looking  up. 

"  It  would  be  more  charitable  to  prove  he 
had  been  out  of  his  mind,"  I  replied,  "and  per 
haps  easier." 

"  Charity  be  damned,"  said  this  remarkable 
man.  "  I'm  after  the  property." 

So  I  decided  on  insanity.  I  hunted  up  and 
subpoenaed  white-haired  witnesses  for  miles 
around.  Many  of  them  shook  their  heads  when 
they  spoke  of  Mr.  Cooke's  great-uncle,  and 
some  knew  more  of  his  private  transactions 


The  Celebrity  23 

than  I  could  have  wished,  and  I  trembled  lest 
my  own  witnesses  should  be  turned  against 
me.  I  learned  more  of  Mr.  Cooke's  great-uncle 
than  I  knew  of  Mr.  Cooke  himself,  and  to  the 
credit  of  my  client  be  it  said  that  none  of  his 
relative's  traits  were  apparent  in  him,  with  the 
possible  exception  of  insanity ;  and  that  defect, 
if  it  existed  in  the  grand-nephew,  took  in  him 
a  milder  and  less  criminal  turn.  The  old  rascal, 
indeed,  had  so  cleverly  worded  his  deed  of  sale 
as  to  obtain  payment  without  transfer.  It  was 
a  trifle  easier  to  avoid  being  specific  in  that 
country  in  his  day  than  it  is  now,  and  the  docu 
ment  was,  in  my  opinion,  sufficiently  vague  to 
admit  of  a  double  meaning.  The  original  salt 
had  been  made  to  a  man,  now  dead,  whom  the 
railroad  had  bought  out.  The  Copper  Rise 
property  was  mentioned  among  the  other  lands 
in  the  will  in  favor  of  Mr.  Farquhar  Fenelon 
Cooke,  and  the  latter  had  gone  ahead  improving 
them  and  increasing  their  output  in  spite  of  the 
repeated  threats  of  the  railroad  to  bring  suit. 
And  it  was  not  until  its  present  attorney  had 
come  in  and  investigated  the  title  that  the  rail 
road  had  resorted  to  the  law.  I  mention  here, 
by  the  way,  that  my  client  was  the  sole  heir. 


24  The  Celebrity 

But  as  the  time  of  the  sessions  drew  near,  the 
outlook  for  me  was  anything  but  bright.  It  is 
true  that  my  witnesses  were  quite  willing  to 
depose  that  his  actions  were  queer  and  out  of 
the  common,  but  these  witnesses  were  for  the 
most  part  venerable  farmers  and  backwoods 
men  :  expert  testimony  was  deplorably  lacking. 
In  this  extremity  it  was  Mr.  Farquhar  Fenelon 
Cooke  himself  who  came  unwittingly  to  my 
rescue.  He  had  bought  a  horse,  —  he  could 
never  be  in  a  place  long  without  one,  —  which 
was  chiefly  remarkable,  he  said,  for  picking  up 
his  hind  feet  as  well  as  his  front  ones.  How 
ever  he  may  have  differed  from  the  ordinary 
run  of  horses,  he  was  shortly  attacked  by  one 
of  the  thousand  ills  to  which  every  horse  is  sub 
ject.  I  will  not  pretend  to  say  what  it  was. 
I  found  Mr.  Cooke  one  morning  at  his  usual 
place  in  the  Lake  House  bar  holding  forth  with 
more  than  common  vehemence  and  profanity 
on  the  subject  of  veterinary  surgeons.  He 
declared  there  was  not  a  veterinary  surgeon  in 
the  whole  town  fit  to  hold  a  certificate,  and  his 
listeners  nodded  an  extreme  approval  to  this 
sentiment.  A  grizzled  old  fellow  who  kept  a 
stock  farm  back  in  the  country  chanced  to  be 


The  Celebrity  2$ 

there,  and  managed  to  get  a  word  in  on  the 
subject  during  one  of  my  client's  rare  pauses. 

"Yes,"  he  said,  " that's  so.  There  ain't  one 
of  'em  now  fit  to  travel  with  young  Doctor 
Vane,  who  was  here  some  fifteen  years  gone 
by.  He  weren't  no  horse-doctor,  but  he  could 
fix  up  a  foundered  horse  in  a  night  as  good  as 
new.  If  your  uncle  was  livin',  he'd  back  me 
on  that,  Mr.  Cooke." 

Here  was  my  chance.  I  took  the  old  man 
aside,  and  two  or  three  glasses  of  Old  Crow 
launched  him  into  reminiscence. 

"  Where  is  Doctor  Vane  now  ? "  I  asked 
finally. 

"  Over  to  Minneapolis,  sir,  with  more  rich 
patients  nor  he  can  take  care  of.  Wasn't  my 
darter  over  there  last  month,  and  seen  him  ? 
And  demned  if  he  didn't  pull  up  his  carriage 
and  talk  to  her.  Here's  luck  to  him." 

I  might  have  heard  much  more  of  the  stock- 
raiser  had  I  stayed,  but  I  fear  I  left  him  some 
what  abruptly  in  my  haste  to  find  Farrar.  Only 
three  days  remained  before  the  case  was  to 
come  up.  Farrar  readily  agreed  to  go  to  Min 
neapolis,  and  was  off  on  the  first  train  that 
afternoon.  I  would  have  asked  Mr.  Cooke  to 


26  The  Celebrity 

go  had  I  dared  trust  him,  such  was  my  anxiety 
to  have  him  out  of  the  way,  if  only  for  a  time. 
I  did  not  tell  him  about  the  doctor.  He  sat  up 
very  late  with  me  that  night  on  the  Lake  House 
porch  to  give  me  a  rubbing  down,  as  he  ex 
pressed  it,  as  he  might  have  admonished  some 
favorite  jockey  before  a  sweepstake.  "Take 
it  easy,  old  man,"  he  would  say  repeatedly, 
"and  don't  give  things  the  bit  before  you're 
sure  of  their  wind  !  " 

Days  passed,  and  not  a  word  from  Farrar. 
The  case  opened  with  Mr.  Cooke's  friends  on 
the  front  benches.  The  excitement  it  caused 
has  rarely  been  equalled  in  that  section,  but  I 
believe  this  was  due  less  to  its  sensational 
features  than  to  Mr.  Cooke,  who  had  an  ab 
normal  though  unconscious  talent  for  self-ad 
vertisement.  It  became  manifest  early  that 
we  were  losing.  Our  testimony,  as  I  had 
feared,  was  not  strong  enough,  although  they 
said  we  were  making  a  good  fight  of  it.  I  was 
racked  with  anxiety  about  Farrar ;  at  last,  when 
I  had  all  but  given  up  hope,  I  received  a  tele 
gram  from  him  dated  at  Detroit,  saying  he 
would  arrive  with  the  doctor  that  evening. 
This  was  Friday,  the  fourth  day  of  the  trial. 


The  Celebrity  27 

The  doctor  turned  out  to  be  a  large  man, 
well  groomed  and  well  fed,  with  a  twinkle  in 
his  eye.  He  had  gone  to  Narragansett  Pier 
for  the  summer,  whither  Farrar  had  followed 
him.  On  being  introduced,  Mr.  Cooke  at  once 
invited  him  out  to  have  a  drink. 

"  Did  you  know  my  uncle  ? "  asked  my  client. 

"Yes,"  said  the  doctor,  "I  should  say  I  did." 

"Poor  old  duffer,"  said  Mr.  Cooke,  with  due 
solemnity;  "I  understand  he  was  a  maniac." 

"Well,"  said  the  doctor,  while  we  listened 
with  a  breathless  interest,  "he  wasn't  exactly 
a  maniac,  but  I  think  I  can  safely  say  he  was 
a  lunatic." 

"Then  here's  to  insanity!"  said  the  irre 
pressible,  his  glass  swung  in  mid-air,  when  a 
thought  struck  him,  and  he  put  it  down  again 
and  looked  hard  at  the  doctor. 

"Will  you  swear  to  it  ?  "  he  demanded. 

"  I  would  swear  to  it  before  Saint  Peter," 
said  the  doctor,  fervently. 

He  swore  to  it  before  a  jury,  which  was  more 
to  the  point,  and  we  won  our  case.  It  did  not 
even  go  to  the  court  of  appeals  ;  I  suppose  the 
railroad  thought  it  cheaper  to  drop  it,  since  no 
right  of  way  was  involved.  And  the  decision 


28  The  Celebrity 

was  scarcely  announced  before  Mr.  Farquhar 
Fenelon  Cooke  had  begun  work  on  his  new 
country  place,  Mohair. 

I  have  oftentimes  been  led  to  consider  the 
relevancy  of  this  chapter,  and  have  finally  de 
cided  to  insert  it.  I  concluded  that  the  actual 
narrative  of  how  Mr.  Cooke  came  to  establish 
his  country-place  near  Asquith  would  be  inter 
esting,  and  likewise  throw  some  light  on  that 
gentleman's  character.  And  I  ask  the  reader's 
forbearance  for  the  necessary  personal  history 
involved.  Had  it  not  been  for  Mr.  Cooke's 
friendship  for  me  I  should  not  have  written 
these  pages. 


CHAPTER   III 

EVENTS  are  consequential  or  inconsequential 
irrespective  of  their  size.  The  wars  of  Troy 
were  fought  for  a  woman,  and  Charles  VIII,  of 
France,  bumped  his  head  against  a  stone  door 
way  and  died  because  he  did  not  stoop  low 
enough.  And  to  descend  from  history  down 
to  my  own  poor  chronicle,  Mr.  Cooke's  rail 
road  case,  my  first  experience  at  the  bar  of 
any  gravity  or  magnitude,  had  tied  to  it  a 
string  of  consequences  then  far  beyond  my 
guessing.  The  suit  was  my  stepping-stone  not 
only  to  a  larger  and  more  remunerative  prac 
tice,  but  also,  I  believe,  to  the  position  of  dis 
trict  attorney,  which  I  attained  shortly  after 
wards. 

Mr.  Cooke  had  laid  out  Mohair  as  ruthlessly 
as  Napoleon  planned  the  new  Paris ;  though 
not,  I  regret  to  say,  with  a  like  genius.  Fortu 
nately  Farrar  interposed  and  saved  the  grounds, 
but  there  was  no  guardian  angel  to  do  a  like 
turn  for  the  house.  Mr.  Langdon  Willis,  of 
29 


30  The  Celebrity 

Philadelphia,  was  the  architect  who  had  nomi. 
nal  charge  of  the  building.  He  had  regularly 
submitted  some  dozen  plans  for  Mr.  Cooke's 
approval,  which  were  as  regularly  rejected.  My 
client  believed,  in  common  with  a  great  many 
other  people,  that  architects  should  be  driven 
and  not  followed,  and  was  plainly  resolved  to 
make  this  house  the  logical  development  of 
many  cherished  ideas.  It  is  not  strange,  there 
fore,  that  the  edifice  was  completed  by  a  Chi 
cago  contractor  who  had  less  self-respect  than 
Mr.  Willis,  the  latter  having  abruptly  refused 
to  have  his  name  tacked  on  to  the  work. 

Mohair  was  finished  and  ready  for  occupation 
iri  July,  two  years  after  the  suit.  I  drove  out 
one  day  before  Mr.  Cooke's  arrival  to  look  it 
over.  The  grounds,  where  Farrar  had  had  mat 
ters  pretty  much  his  own  way,  to  my  mind 
rivalled  the  best  private  parks  in  the  East. 
The  stables  were  filled  with  a  score  or  so  of 
Mr.  Cooke's  best  horses,  brought  hither  in  his 
private  cars,  and  the  trotters  were  exercising 
on  the  track. 

The  middle  of  June  found  Farrar  and  myself 
at  the  Asquith  Inn.  It  was  Farrar's  custom  to 
go  to  Asquith  in  the  summer,  being  near  the 


The  Celebrity  31 

forest  properties  in  his  charge ;  and  since 
Asquith  was  but  five  miles  from  the  county- 
seat  it  was  convenient  for  me,  and  gave  me 
the  advantages  of  the  lake  breezes  and  a  com 
parative  rest,  which  I  should  not  have  had  in 
town.  At  that  time  Asquith  was  a  small  com 
munity  of  summer  residents  from  Cincinnati, 
Chicago,  St.  Louis,  and  other  western  cities, 
most  of  whom  owned  cottages  and  the  grounds 
around  them.  They  were  a  quiet  lot  that  long 
association  had  made  clannish ;  and  they  had 
a  happy  faculty,  so  rare  in  summer  resorts,  of 
discrimination  between  an  amusement  and  a 
nuisance.  Hence  a  great  many  diversions  which 
are  accounted  pleasurable  elsewhere  are  at  As 
quith  set  down  at  their  true  value.  It  was, 
therefore,  rather  with  resentment  than  other 
wise  that  the  approaching  arrival  of  Mr.  Cooke 
and  the  guests  he  was  likely  to  have  at 
Mohair  were  looked  upon. 

I  had  not  been  long  at  Asquith  before  I 
discovered  that  Farrar  was  acting  in  a  peculiar 
manner,  though  I  was  longer  in  finding  out 
what  the  matter  was.  I  saw  much  less  of  him 
than  in  town.  Once  in  a  while  in  the  even 
ings,  after  ten,  he  would  run  across  me  on 


32  The  Celebrity 

the  porch  of  the  inn,  or  drift  into  my  rooms. 
Even  after  three  years  of  more  or  less  inti 
macy  between  us,  Farrar  still  wore  his  exterior 
of  pessimism  and  indifference,  the  shell  with 
which  he  chose  to  hide  a  naturally  warm  and 
affectionate  disposition.  In  the  dining-room 
we  sat  together  at  the  end  of  a  large  table 
set  aside  for  bachelors  and  small  families  of 
two  or  three,  and  it  seemed  as  though  we  had 
all  the  humorists  and  story-tellers  in  that  place. 
And  Farrar  as  a  source  of  amusement  proved 
equal  to  the  best  of  them.  He  would  wait 
until  a  story  was  well  under  way,  and  then  an 
nihilate  the  point  of  it  with  a  cutting  cynicism 
and  set  the  table  in  a  roar  of  laughter.  Among 
others  who  were  seated  here  was  a  Mr.  Trevor, 
of  Cincinnati,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Asquith. 
Mr.  Trevor  was  a  trifle  bombastic,  with  a  ten 
dency  towards  gesticulation,  an  art  which  he 
had  learned  in  no  less  a  school  than  the  Ohio 
State  Senate.  He  was  a  self-made  man,  —  a 
fact  which  he  took  good  care  should  not  escape 
one,  —  and  had  amassed  his  money,  I  believe, 
in  the  dry-goods  business.  He  always  wore  a 
long,  shiny  coat,  a  low,  turned-down  collar,  and 
a  black  tie,  all  of  which  united  to  give  him 


The  Celebrity  33 

the  general  appearance  of  a  professional  pall 
bearer. 

But  Mr.  Trevor  possessed  a  daughter  who 
amply  made  up  for  his  shortcomings.  She  was 
the  only  one  who  could  meet  Farrar  on  his  own 
ground,  and  rarely  a  meal  passed  that  they  did 
not  have  a  tilt.  They  filled  up  the  holes  of  the 
conversation  with  running  commentaries,  giving 
a  dig  at  the  luckless  narrator  and  a  side-slap 
at  each  other,  until  one  would  have  given  his 
oath  they  were  sworn  enemies.  At  least  I,  in 
the  innocence  of  my  heart,  thought  so  until 
I  was  forcibly  enlightened.  I  had  taken  rather 
a  prejudice  to  Miss  Trevor.  I  could  find  no 
better  reason  than  her  antagonism  to  Farrar. 
I  was  revolving  this  very  thing  in  my  mind 
one  day  as  I  was  paddling  back  to  the  inn  after 
a  look  at  my  client's  new  pier  and  boat-houses, 
when  I  descried  Farrar' s  catboat  some  distance 
out.  The  lake  was  glass,  and  the  sail  hung 
lifeless.  It  was  near  lunch-time,  and  charity 
prompted  me  to  head  for  the  boat  and  give  it 
a  tow  homeward.  As  I  drew  near,  Farrar  him 
self  emerged  from  behind  the  sail  and  asked 
me,  with  a  great  show  of  nonchalance,  what  I 
wanted. 


34  The  Celebrity 

"To  tow  you  back  for  lunch,  of  course,"  I 
answered,  used  to  his  ways, 

He  threw  me  a  line,  which  I  made  fast  to  the 
stern,  and  then  he  disappeared  again.  I  thought 
this  somewhat  strange,  but  as  the  boat  was  a 
light  one,  I  towed  it  in  and  hitched  it  to  the 
wharf,  when,  to  my  great  astonishment,  there 
disembarked  not  Farrar,  but  Miss  Trevor. 
She  leaped  lightly  ashore  and  was  gone  before 
I  could  catch  my  breath,  while  Farrar  let  down 
the  sail  and  offered  me  a  cigarette.  I  had 
learned  a  lesson  in  appearances. 

It  could  not  have  been  very  long  after  this 
that  I  was  looking  over  my  batch  of  New  York 
papers,  which  arrived  weekly,  when  my  eye  was 
arrested  by  a  name.  I  read  the  paragraph, 
which  announced  the  fact  that  my  friend  the 
Celebrity  was  about  to  sail  for  Europe  in  search 
of  "  color  "  for  his  next  novel ;  this  was  already 
contracted  for  at  a  large  price,  and  was  to  be  of 
a  more  serious  nature  than  any  of  his  former 
work.  An  interview  was  published  in  which 
the  Celebrity  had  declared  that  a  new  novel 
was  to  appear  in  a  short  time.  I  do  not  know 
what  impelled  me,  but  I  began  at  once  to 
search  through  the  other  papers,  and  found 


The  Celebrity  35 

almost  identically  the  same  notice  in  all  of 
them. 

By  one  of  those  odd  coincidents  which  some 
times  start  one  to  thinking,  the  Celebrity  was 
the  subject  of  a  lively  discussion  when  I  reached 
the  table  that  evening.  I  had  my  quota  of  in 
formation  concerning  his  European  trip,  but  I 
did  not  commit  myself  when  appealed  to  for  an 
opinion.  I  had  once  known  the  man  (which, 
however,  I  did  not  think  it  worth  while  to 
mention)  and  I  did  not  feel  justified  in  criticis 
ing  him  in  public.  Besides,  what  I  knew  of 
him  was  excellent,  and  entirely  apart  from  the 
literary  merit  or  demerit  of  his  work.  The 
others,  however,  were  within  their  right  when 
they  censured  or  praised  him,  and  they  did 
both.  Farrar,  in  particular,  surprised  me  by 
the  violence  of  his  attacks,  while  Miss  Trevor 
took  up  the  Celebrity's  defence  with  equal 
ardor.  Her  motives  were  beyond  me  now. 
The  Celebrity's  works  spoke  for  themselves, 
she  said,  and  she  could  not  and  would  not 
believe  such  injurious  reports  of  one  who 
wrote  as  he  did. 

The  next  day  I  went  over  to  the  county-seat, 
and  got  back  to  Asquith  after  dark.  I  dined 


36  The  Celebrity 

alone,  and  afterwards  I  was  strolling  up  and 
down  one  end  of  the  long  veranda  when  I 
caught  sight  of  a  lonely  figure  in  a  corner, 
with  chair  tilted  back  and  feet  on  the  rail. 
A  gleam  of  a  cigar  lighted  up  the  face,  and 
I  saw  that  it  was  Farrar.  I  sat  down  beside 
him,  and  we  talked  commonplaces  for  a  while, 
Farrar's  being  almost  monosyllabic,  while  now 
and  again  feminine  voices  and  feminine  laugh 
ter  reached  our  ears  from  the  far  end  of  the 
porch.  They  seemed  to  go  through  Farrar  like 
a  knife,  and  he  smoked  furiously,  his  lips  tightly 
compressed  the  while.  I  had  a  dozen  conjec 
tures,  none  of  which  I  dared  voice.  So  I 
waited  in  patience. 

"  Crocker,"  said  he,  at  length,  "  there's  a 
man  here  from  Boston,  Charles  Wrexell  Allen ; 
came  this  morning.  You  know  Boston.  Have 
you  ever  heard  of  him  ? " 

"  Allen,"  I  repeated,  reflecting  ;  "  no  Charles 
Wrexell." 

"  It  is  Charles  Wrexell,  I  think,"  said  Farrar, 
as  though  the  matter  were  trivial.  "  However, 
we  can  go  into  the  register  and  make  sure." 

"What  about  him?"  I  asked,  not  feeling 
inclined  to  stir. 


The  Celebrity  37 

"Oh,  nothing.  An  arrival  is  rather  an  oc 
currence,  though.  You  can  hear  him  down 
there  now,"  he  added,  tossing  his  head  towards 
the  other  end  of  the  porch,  "with  the  women 
around  him." 

In  fact,  I  did  catch  the  deeper  sound  of  a 
man's  voice  among  the  lighter  tones,  and  the 
voice  had  a  ring  to  it  which  was  not  wholly 
unfamiliar,  although  I  could  not  place  it. 

I  threw  Farrar  a  bait. 

"  He  must  make  friends  easily,"  I  said. 

"With  the  women?  —  yes,"  he  replied,  so 
scathingly  that  I  was  forced  to  laugh  in  spite 
of  myself. 

",Let  us  go  in  and  look  at  the  register," 
I  suggested.  "  You  may  have  his  name 
wrong." 

We  went  in  accordingly.  Sure  enough,  in 
bold,  heavy  characters,  was  the  name  Charles 
Wrexell  Allen  written  out  in  full.  That  hand 
writing  was  one  in  a  thousand.  I  made  sure  I 
had  seen  it  before,  and  yet  I  did  not  know  it ; 
and  the  more  I  puzzled  over  it  the  more  con 
fused  I  became.  I  turned  to  Farrar. 

"I  have  had  a  poor  cigar  passed  off  on  me 
and  deceive  me  for  a  while.  That  is  precisely 


38  The  Celebrity 

the  case  here.  I  think  I  should  recognize  your 
man  if  I  were  to  see  him." 

"Well,"  said  Farrar,  " here's  your  chance." 

The  company  outside  were  moving  in.  Two 
or  three  of  the  older  ladies  came  first,  carrying 
their  wraps ;  then  a  troop  of  girls,  among  whom 
was  Miss  Trevor;  and  lastly,  a  man.  Farrar 
and  I  had  walked  to  the  door  while  the  women 
turned  into  the  drawing-room,  so  that  we  were 
brought  face  to  face  with  him,  suddenly.  At 
sight  of  me  he  halted  abruptly,  as  though  he  had 
struck  the  edge  of  a  -door,  changed  color,  and 
held  out  his  hand,  tentatively.  Then  he  with 
drew  it  again,  for  I  made  no  sign  of  recognition. 

It  was  the  Celebrity  ! 

I  felt  a  shock  of  disgust  as  I  passed  out. 
Masquerading,  it  must  be  admitted,  is  not  pleas 
ant  to  the  taste ;  and  the  whole  farce,  as  it 
flashed  through  my  mind,  —  his  advertised  trip, 
his  turning  up  here  under  an  assumed  name,  — 
had  an  ill  savor.  Perhaps  some  of  the  things 
they  said  of  him  might  be  true,  after  all. 

"Who  the  devil  is  he?"  said  Farrar,  drop 
ping  for  once  his  indifference  ;  "  he  looked  as  if 
he  knew  you." 

I  evaded. 


The  Celebrity  39 

"He  may  have  taken  me  for  some  one  else," 
I  answered  with  all  the  coolness  I  could  muster. 
"  I  have  never  met  any  one  of  his  name.  His 
voice  and  handwriting,  however,  are  very  much 
like  those  of  a  man  I  used  to  know." 

Farrar  was  very  poor  company  that  evening, 
and  left  me  early.  I  went  to  my  rooms  and 
had  taken  down  a  volume  of  Carlyle,  who  can 
generally  command  my  attention,  when  there 
came  a  knock  at  the  door. 

"  Come  in,"  I  replied,  with  an  instinctive 
sense  of  prophecy. 

This  was  fulfilled  at  once  by  the  appearance 
of  the  Celebrity.  He  was  attired  —  for  the  de 
tails  of  his  dress  forced  themselves  upon  me 
vividly — in  a  rough-spun  suit  of  knickerbockers, 
a  colored  shirt  having  a  large  and  prominent 
gold  stud,  red  and  brown  stockings  of  a  diamond 
pattern,  and  heavy  walking-boots.  And  he 
entered  with  an  air  of  assurance  that  was 
maddening. 

"  My  dear  Crocker,"  he  exclaimed,  "  you  have 
no  idea  how  delighted  I  am  to  see  you  here ! " 

I  rose,  first  placing  a  book-mark  in  Carlyle, 
and  assured  him  that  I  was  surprised  to  see  him 
here. 


40  The  Celebrity 

"Surprised  to  see  me  !"  he  returned,  far  from 
being  damped  by  my  manner.  "  In  fact,  I  am  a 
little  surprised  to  see  myself  here." 

He  sank  back  on  the  window-seat  and  clasped 
his  hands  behind  his  head. 

"  But  first  let  me  thank  you  for  respecting  my 
incognito,"  he  said. 

I  tried  hard  to  keep  my  temper,  marvelling  at 
the  ready  way  he  had  chosen  to  turn  my  action. 

"And  now,"  he  continued,  "I  suppose  you 
want  to  know  why  I  came  out  here."  He  easily 
supplied  the  lack  of  cordial  solicitation  on  my 
part. 

"  Yes,  I  should  like  to  know,"  I  said. 

Thus  having  aroused  my  curiosity,  he  took  his 
time  about  appeasing  it,  after  the  custom  of  his 
kind.  He  produced  a  gold  cigarette  case,  offered 
me  a  cigarette,  which  I  refused,  took  one  him 
self  and  blew  the  smoke  in  rings  toward  the 
ceiling.  Then,  raising  himself  on  his  elbow,  he 
drew  his  features  together  in  such  a  way  as  to 
lead  me  to  believe  he  was  about  to  impart  some 
valuable  information. 

"  Crocker,"  said  he,  "it's  the  very  deuce  to  be 
famous,  isn't  it  ?  " 

"I  suppose  it  is,"  I  replied  curtly,  wondering 


The  Celebrity  41 

what  he  was  driving  at ;  "I  have  never  tried 
it." 

"An  ordinary  man,  such  as  you,  can't  con 
ceive  of  the  torture  a  fellow  in  my  position  is 
obliged  to  go  through  the  year  round,  but  espe 
cially  in  the  summer,  when  one  wishes  to  go  off 
on  a  rest.  You  know  what  I  mean,  of  course." 

"  I  am  afraid  I  do  not,"  I  answered,  in  a  vain 
endeavor  to  embarrass  him. 

"  You're  thicker  than  when  I  used  to  know 
you,  then,"  he  returned  with  candor.  "To  tell 
the  truth,  Crocker,  I  often  wish  I  were  back  at 
the  law,  and  had  never  written  a  line.  I  am 
paying  the  penalty  of  fame.  Wherever  I  go  I 
am  hounded  to  death  by  the  people  who  have 
read  my  books,  and  they  want  to  dine  and  wine 
me  for  the  sake  of  showing  me  off  at  their 
houses.  I  am  heartily  sick  and  tired  of  it  all ; 
you  would  be  if  you  had  to  go  through  it.  I 
could  stand  a  winter,  but  the  worst  comes  in  the 
summer,  when  one  meets  the  women  who  fire 
all  sorts  of  socio-psychological  questions  at  one 
for  solution,  and  who  have  suggestions  for 
stories."  He  shuddered. 

"  And  what  has  all  this  to  do  with  your  coming 
here  ?  "  I  cut  in,  strangling  a  smile. 


42  The  Celebrity 

He  twisted  his  cigarette  at  an  acute  angle 
with  his  face,  and  looked  at  me  out  of  the  corner 
of  his  eye. 

"I'll  try  to  be  a  little  plainer,"  he  went  on, 
sighing  as  one  unused  to  deal  with  people  who 
require  crosses  on  their  /'s.  "  I've  been  worried 
almost  out  of  my  mind  with  attention  —  nothing 
but  attention  the  whole  time.  I  can't  go  on 
the  street  but  what  I'm  stared  at  and  pointed 
out,  so  I  thought  of  a  scheme  to  relieve  it  for  a 
time.  It  was  becoming  unbearable.  I  deter 
mined  to  assume  a  name  and  go  to  some  quiet 
little  place  for  the  summer,  West,  if  possible, 
where  I  was  not  likely  to  be  recognized,  and 
have  three  months  of  rest." 

He  paused,  but  I  offered  no  comment. 

"Well,  the  more  I  thought  of  it,  the  better  I 
liked  the  idea.  I  met  a  western  man  at  the  club 
and  asked  him  about  western  resorts,  quiet 
ones.  '  Have  you  heard  of  Asquith  ? '  says  he. 
'No/  said  I;  'describe  it.'  He  did,  and  it  was 
just  the  place ;  quaint,  restful,  and  retired.  Of 
course  I  put  him  off  the  track,  but  I  did  not 
count  on  striking  you.  My  man  boxed  up,  and 
we  were  off  in  twenty-four  hours,  and  here  I 
am." 


The  Celebrity  43 

Now  all  this  was  very  fine,  but  not  at  all  in 
keeping  with  the  Celebrity's  character  as  I  had 
come  to  conceive  it.  The  idea  that  adulation 
ever  cloyed  on  him  was  ludicrous  in  itself.  In 
fact  I  thought  the  whole  story  fishy,  and  came 
very  near  to  saying  so. 

"  You  won't  tell  anyone  who  I  am,  will  you?" 
he  asked  anxiously. 

He  even  misinterpreted  my  silences. 

"  Certainly  not,"  I  replied.  "  It  is  no  concern 
of  mine.  You  might  come  here  as  Emil  Zola 
or  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  and  it  would  make  no 
difference  to  me." 

He  looked  at  me  dubiously,  even  suspiciously. 

"That's  a  good  chap,"  said  he,  and  was  gone, 
leaving  me  to  reflect  on  the  ways  of  genius. 

And  the  longer  I  reflected,  the  more  positive 
I  became  that  there  existed  a  more  potent  reason 
for  the  Celebrity's  disguise  than  ennui.  As 
actions  speak  louder  than  words,  so  does  a 
man's  character  often  give  the  lie  to  his  tongue. 


CHAPTER   IV 

A  LION  in  an  ass's  skin  is  still  a  lion  in  spite 
of  his  disguise.  Conversely,  the  same  might 
be  said  of  an  ass  in  a  lion's  skin.  The  Celeb 
rity  ran  after  women  with  the  same  readiness 
and  helplessness  that  a  dog  will  chase  chickens, 
or  that  a  stream  will  run  down  hill.  Women 
differ  from  chickens,  however,  in  the  fact  that 
they  find  pleasure  in  being  chased  by  a  certain 
kind  of  a  man.  The  Celebrity  was  this  kind  of 
a  man.  From  the  moment  his  valet  deposited 
his  luggage  in  his  rooms,  Charles  Wrexell  Allen 
became  the  social  hero  of  Asquith.  It  is  by 
straws  we  are  enabled  to  tell  which  way  the 
wind  is  blowing,  and  I  first  noticed  his  par 
tiality  for  Miss  Trevor  from  the  absence  of 
the  lively  conflicts  she  was  wont  to  have  with 
Farrar.  These  ceased  entirely  after  the  Celeb 
rity's  arrival.  It  was  the  latter  who  now  com 
manded  the  conversation  at  our  table. 

I  was  truly  sorry  for  Farrar,  for  I  knew  the 
man,  the  depth  of  his  nature,  and  the  scope  of 
44 


The  Celebrity  45 

the  shock.  He  carried  it  off  altogether  too 
well,  and  both  the  studied  lightness  of  his 
actions  and  the  increased  carelessness  of  his 
manner  made  me  fear  that  what  before  was 
feigned,  might  turn  to  a  real  bitterness. 

For  Farrar's  sake,  if  the  Celebrity  had  been 
content  with  women  in  general,  all  would  have 
been  well ;  but  he  was  unable  to  generalize,  in 
one  sense,  and  to  particularize,  in  another. 
And  it  was  plain  that  he  wished  to  monopolize 
Miss  Trevor,  while  still  retaining  a  hold  upon 
the  others.  For  my  sake,  had  he  been  content 
with  women  alone,  I  should  have  had  no  cause 
to  complain.  But  it  seemed  that  I  had  an 
attraction  for  him,  second  only  to  women, 
which  I  could  not  account  for.  And  I  began 
to  be  cursed  with  a  great  deal  of  his  company. 
Since  he  was  absolutely  impervious  to  hints, 
and  would  not  take  no  for  an  answer,  I  was 
helpless.  When  he  had  no  engagement  he 
would  thrust  himself  on  me.  He  seemed  to 
know  by  intuition  —  for  I  am  very  sure  I  never 
told  him — what  my  amusement  was  to  be  the 
mornings  I  did  not  go  to  the  county-seat,  and 
he  would  invariably  turn  up,  properly  equipped, 
as  I  was  making  my  way  with  Judge  Short  to 


46  The  Celebrity 

the  tennis  court,  or  carrying  my  oars  to  the 
water.  It  was  in  vain  that  I  resorted  to  sub 
terfuge  :  that  I  went  to  bed  early  intending  to 
be  away  before  the  Celebrity's  rising  hour.  I 
found  he  had  no  particular  rising  hour.  No 
matter  how  early  I  came  down,  I  would  find 
him  on  the  veranda,  smoking  cigarettes,  or 
otherwise  his  man  would  be  there  with  a  mes 
sage  to  say  that  his  master  would  shortly  join 
me  if  I  would  kindly  wait.  And  at  last  I  began 
to  realize  in  my  harassed  soul  that  all  elusion 
was  futile,  and  to  take  such  holidays  as  I  could 
get,  when  he  was  off  with  a  girl,  in  a  spirit  of 
thankfulness. 

Much  of  this  persecution  I  might  have  put 
up  with,  indeed,  had  I  not  heard,  in  one  way  or 
another,  that  he  was  doing  me  the  honor  of  call 
ing  me  his  intimate.  This  I  could  not  stand, 
and  I  soberly  resolved  to  leave  Asquith  and  go 
back  to  town,  which  I  should  indeed  have  done 
if  deliverance  had  not  arrived  from  an  unex 
pected  quarter. 

One  morning  I  had  been  driven  to  the  pre 
carious  refuge  afforded  by  the  steps  of  the  inn, 
after  rejecting  offers  from  the  Celebrity  to  join 
him  in  a  variety  of  amusements.  But  even 


The  Celebrity  47 

here  I  was  not  free  from  interruption,  for  he 
was  seated  on  a  horse-block  below  me,  playing 
with  a  fox  terrier.  Judge  Short  had  gone  to 
town,  and  Farrar  was  off  for  a  three  days'  cruise 
up  the  lake.  I  was  bitterly  regretting  I  had  not 
gone  with  him  when  the  distant  notes  of  a  coach 
horn  reached  my  ear,  and  I  descried  a  four-in- 
hand  winding  its  way  up  the  inn  road  from  the 
direction  of  Mohair. 

"That  must  be  your  friend  Cooke,"  remarked 
the  Celebrity,  looking  up. 

There  could  be  no  doubt  of  it.  With  little 
difficulty  I  recognized  on  the  box  the  familiar 
figure  of  my  first  important  client,  and  beside 
him  was  a  lady  whom  I  supposed  to  be  Mrs. 
Farquhar  Fenelon  Cooke,  although  I  had  had 
no  previous  knowledge  that  such  a  person  ex 
isted.  The  horses  were  on  a  brisk  trot,  and 
Mr.  Cooke  seemed  to  be  getting  the  best  out 
of  them  for  the  benefit  of  the  sprinkling  of 
people  on  the  inn  porch.  Indeed,  I  could  not 
but  admire  the  dexterous  turn  of  the  wrist 
which  served  Mr.  Cooke  to  swing  his  leaders 
into  the  circle  and  up  the  hill,  while  the  liveried 
guard  leaned  far  out  in  anticipation  of  a  stumble. 
Mr.  Cooke  hailed  me  with  a  beaming  smile  and 


48  The  Celebrity 

a  flourish  of  the  whip  as  he  drew  up  and  de 
scended  from  the  box. 

"  Maria,"  he  exclaimed,  giving  me  a  hearty 
grip,  "this  is  the  man  that  won  Mohair.  My 
wife,  Crocker." 

I  was  somewhat  annoyed  at  this  effusiveness 
before  the  Celebrity,  but  I  looked  up  and  caught 
Mrs.  Cooke's  eye.  It  was  the  calm  eye  of  a 
general. 

"  I  am  glad  of  the  opportunity  to  thank  you, 
Mr.  Crocker,"  she  said  simply.  And  I  liked 
her  from  that  moment. 

Mr.  Cooke  at  once  began  a  tirade  against  the 
residents  of  Asquith  for  permitting  a  sandy  and 
generally  disgraceful  condition  of  the  roads. 
So  roundly  did  he  vituperate  the  inn  manage 
ment  in  particular,  and  with  such  a  loud  flow  of 
words,  that  I  trembled  lest  he  should  be  heard 
on  the  veranda.  The  Celebrity  stood  by  the 
block,  in  an  amazement  which  gave  me  a  wicked 
pleasure,  and  it  was  some  minutes  before  I  had 
the  chance  to  introduce  him. 

Mr.  Cooke's  idea  of  an  introduction,  however, 
was  no  mere  word-formula :  it  was  fraught  with 
a  deeper  and  a  bibulous  meaning.  He  presented 
the  Celebrity  to  his  wife,  and  then  invited  both 


The  Celebrity  49 

of  us  to  go  inside  with  him  by  one  of  those  neat 
and  cordial  paraphrases  in  which  he  was  skilled. 
I  preferred  to  remain  with  Mrs.  Cooke,  and  it 
was  with  a  gleam  of  hope  at  a  possible  deliver 
ance  from  my  late  persecution  that  I  watched 
the  two  disappear  together  through  the  hall  and 
into  the  smoking-room. 

"  How  do  you  like  Mohair  ? "  I  asked  Mrs. 
Cooke. 

"Do  you  mean  the  house  or  the  park?"  she 
laughed ;  and  then,  seeing  my  embarrassment, 
she  went  on  :  "  Oh,  the  house  is  just  like  every 
thing  else  Fenelon  meddles  with.  Outside  it's 
a  mixture  of  all  the  styles,  and  inside  a  hash  of 
all  the  nationalities  from  Siamese  to  Spanish. 
Fenelon  hangs  the  Oriental  tinsels  he  has  col 
lected  on  pieces  of  black  baronial  oak,  and  the 
coat-of-arms  he  had  designed  by  our  Philadelphia 
jewellers  is  stamped  on  the  dining-room  chairs, 
and  even  worked  into  the  fire  screens." 

There  was  nothing  paltry  in  her  criticism  of 
her  husband,  nothing  she  would  not  have  said 
to  his  face.  She  was  a  woman  who  made  you 
feel  this,  for  sincerity  was  written  all  over  her. 
I  could  not  help  wondering  why  she  gave  Mr. 
Cooke  line  in  the  matter  of  household  decora- 


50  The  Celebrity 

tion,  unless  it  was  that  he  considered  Mohair 
his  own,  private  hobby,  and  that  she  humored 
him.  Mrs.  Cooke  was  not  without  tact,  and  I 
have  no  doubt  she  perceived  my  reluctance  to 
talk  about  her  husband  and  respected  it. 

"  We  drove  down  to  bring  you  back  to  lunch 
eon,"  she  said. 

I  thanked  her  and  accepted.  She  was  curious 
to  hear  about  Asquith  and  its  people,  and  I  told 
her  all  I  knew. 

"  I  should  like  to  meet  some  of  them,"  she 
explained,  "  for  we  intend  having  a  cotillon  at 
Mohair, — a  kind  of  house-warming,  you  know. 
A  party  of  Mr.  Cooke's  friends  is  coming  out 
for  it  in  his  car,  and  he  thought  something  of 
inviting  the  people  of  Asquith  up  for  a  dance." 

I  had  my  doubts  concerning  the  wisdom  of  an 
entertainment,  the  success  of  which  depended 
on  the  fusion  of  a  party  of  Mr.  Cooke's  friends 
and  a  company  from  Asquith.  But  I  held  my 
peace.  She  shot  a  question  at  me  suddenly : 

"  Who  is  this  Mr.  Allen  ?  " 

"  He  registers  from  Boston,  and  only  came  a 
fortnight  ago,"  I  replied  vaguely. 

"  He  doesn't  look  quite  right ;  as  though  he 
had  been  set  down  on  the  wrong  planet,  you 


The  Celebrity  51 

know,"  said  Mrs.  Cooke,  her  finger  on  her 
temple.  "  What  is  he  like  ?  " 

"  Well,"  I  answered,  at  first  with  uncertainty, 
then  with  inspiration,  "  he  would  do  splendidly 
to  lead  your  cotillon,  if  you  think  of  having 
one." 

"  So  you  do  not  dance,  Mr.  Crocker  ? " 

I  was  somewhat  set  back  by  her  perspicacity. 

"  No,  I  do  not,"  said  I. 

"  I  thought  not,"  she  said,  laughing.  It  must 
have  been  my  expression  which  prompted  her 
next  remark. 

"  I  was  not  making  fun  of  you,"  she  said, 
more  soberly  ;  "  I  do  not  like  Mr.  Allen  any 
better  than  you  do,  and  I  have  only  seen  him 
once." 

"  But  I  have  not  said  I  did  not  like  him,"  I 
objected. 

"  Of  course  not,"  said  Mrs.  Cooke,  quizzically. 

At  that  moment,  to  my  relief,  I  discerned  the 
Celebrity  and  Mr.  Cooke  in  the  hallway. 

"  Here  they  come,  now,"  she  went  on.  "  I 
do  wish  Fenelon  would  keep  his  hands  off  the 
people  he  meets.  I  can  feel  he  is  going  to 
make  an  intimate  of  that  man.  Mark  my 
words,  Mr.  Crocker." 


52  The  Celebrity 

I  not  only  marked  them,  I  prayed  for  their 
fulfilment. 

There  was  that  in  Mr.  Cooke  which,  for  want 
of  a  better  name,  I  will  call  instinct.  As  he 
came  down  the  steps,  his  arm  linked  in  that  of 
the  Celebrity,  his  attitude  towards  his  wife  was 
both  apologetic  and  defiant.  He  had  at  once 
the  air  of  a  child  caught  with  a  forbidden  toy, 
and  that  of  a  stripling  of  twenty-one  who  flaunts 
a  cigar  in  his  father's  face. 

"Maria,"  he  said,  "  Mr.  Allen  has  consented 
to  come  back  with  us  for  lunch." 

We  drove  back  to  Mohair,  Mr.  Cooke  and  the 
Celebrity  on  the  box,  Mrs.  Cooke  and  I  behind. 
Except  to  visit  the  boathouses  I  had  not  been 
to  Mohair  since  the  day  of  its  completion,  and 
now  the  full  beauty  of  the  approach  struck  me 
for  the  first  time.  We  swung  by  the  lodge, 
the  keeper  holding  open  the  iron  gate  as  we 
passed,  and  into  the  wide  driveway,  hewn,  as  it 
were,  out  of  the  virgin  forest.  The  sandy  soil 
had  been  strengthened  by  a  deep  road-bed  of 
clay  imported  from  the  interior,  which  was 
spread  in  turn  with  a  fine  gravel,  which 
crunched  under  the  heavy  wheels.  From  the 
lodge  to  the  house,  a  full  mile,  branches  had 


The  Celebrity  53 

oeen  pruned  to  let  the  sunshine  sift  through 
in  splotches,  but  the  wild  nature  of  the  place 
had  been  skilfully  retained.  We  curved  hither 
and  thither  under  the  giant  trees  until  suddenly, 
as  a  whip  straightens  in  the  snapping,  one  of 
the  ancient  tribes  of  the  forest  might  have  sent 
an  arrow  down  the  leafy  gallery  into  the  open, 
and  at  the  far  end  we  caught  sight  of  the 
palace  framed  in  the  vista.  It  was  a  triumph 
for  Farrar,  and  I  wished  that  the  palace  had 
been  more  worthy. 

The  Celebrity  did  not  stint  his  praises  of 
Mohair,  coming  up  the  drive,  but  so  lavish  were 
his  comments  on  the  house  that  they  won  for 
him  a  lasting  place  in  Mr.  Cooke's  affections, 
and  encouraged  my  client  to  pull  up  his  horses 
in  a  favorable  spot,  and  expand  on  the  beauties 
of  the  mansion. 

"Taking  it  altogether,"  said  he,  complacently, 
"it  is  rather  a  neat  box,  and  I  let  myself  loose 
on  it.  I  had  all  these  ideas  I  gathered  knock 
ing  about  the  world,  and  I  gave  them  to  Willis, 
of  Philadelphia,  to  put  together  for  me.  But 
he's  honest  enough  not  to  claim  the  house. 
Take,  for  instance,  that  minaret  business  on 
the  west ;  I  picked  that  up  from  a  mosque  in 


54  The  Celebrity 

Algiers.  The  oriel  just  this  side  is  whole  cloth 
from  Haddon  Hall,  and  the  galleried  porch  next 
it  from  a  Florentine  villa.  The  conical  capped 
tower  I  got  from  a  French  chateau,  and  some 
of  the  features  on  the  south  from  a  Buddhist 
temple  in  Japan.  Only  a  little  blending  and 
grouping  was  necessary,  and  Willis  calls  him 
self  an  architect,  and  wasn't  equal  to  it.  Now," 
he  added,  "get  the  effect.  Did  you  ever  see 
another  house  like  it  ?  " 

"  Magnificent !  "  exclaimed  the  Celebrity. 

"And  then,"  my  client  continued,  warming 
under  this  generous  appreciation,  "there's  some 
thing  very  smart  about  those  colors.  They're 
my  racing  colors.  Of  course  the  granite's  a 
little  off,  but  it  isn't  prominent.  Willis  kicked 
hard  when  it  came  to  painting  the  oriel  yellow, 
but  an  architect  always  takes  it  for  granted  he 
knows  it  all,  and  a — " 

"Fenelon,"  said  Mrs.  Cooke,  "luncheon  is 
waiting." 

Mrs.  Cooke  dominated  at  luncheon  and  re 
tired,  and  it  is  certain  that  both  Mr.  Cooke  and 
the  Celebrity  breathed  more  freely  when  she 
had  gone.  If  her  criticisms  on  the  exterior  of 
the  house  were  just,  those  on  the  interior  were 


The  Celebrity  55 

more  so.  Not  only  did  I  find  the  coat-of-arms 
set  forth  on  the  chairs,  fire-screens,  and  other 
prominent  articles,  but  it  was  even  cut  into  the 
swinging  door  of  the  butler's  pantry.  The 
motto  I  am  afraid  my  client  never  took  the 
trouble  to  have  translated,  and  I  am  inclined  to 
think  his  jewellers  put  up  a  little  joke  on  him 
when  they  chose  it.  "  Be  Sober  and  Boast  not." 

I  observed  that  Mrs.  Cooke,  when  she  chose, 
could  exert  the  subduing  effect  on  her  husband 
of  a  soft  pedal  on  a  piano  ;  and  during  luncheon 
she  kept  the  soft  pedal  on.  And  the  Celebrity, 
being  in  some  degree  a  kindred  spirit,  was  also 
held  in  check.  But  his  wife  had  no  sooner  left 
the  room  when  Mr.  Cooke  began  on  the  sub 
ject  uppermost  in  his  mind.  I  had  suspected 
that  his  trip  to  Asquith  that  morning  was  for  a 
purpose  at  which  Mrs.  Cooke  had  hinted.  But 
she,  with  a  woman's  tact,  had  aimed  to  accom 
plish  by  degrees  that  which  her  husband  would 
carry  by  storm. 

"  You've  been  at  Asquith  some  time,  Crocker," 
Mr.  Cooke  began,  "long  enough  to  know  the 
people." 

"  I  know  some  of  them,"  I  said  guardedly. 
But  the  rush  was  not  to  be  stemmed. 


56  The  Celebrity 

"  How  many  do  you  think  you  can  muster 
for  that  entertainment  of  mine  ?  Fifty  ?  I 
ought  to  have  fifty,  at  least.  Suppose  you  pick 
out  fifty,  and  send  me  up  the  names.  I  want 
good  lively  ones,  you  understand,  that  will  stir 
things  up." 

"  I  am  afraid  there  are  not  fifty  of  that  kind 
there,"  I  replied. 

His  face  fell,  but  brightened  again  instantly. 
He  appealed  to  the  Celebrity. 

"  How  about  it,  old  man  ? "  said  he. 

The  Celebrity  answered,  with  becoming  mod 
esty,  that  the  Asquithians  were  benighted. 
They  had  never  had  any  one  to  show  them  how 
to  enjoy  life.  But  there  was  hope  for  them. 

"That's  it,"  exclaimed  my  client,  slapping  his 
thigh,  and  turning  triumphantly  to  me,  he  con 
tinued,  "  You're  all  right,  Crocker,  and  know 
enough  to  win  a  damned  big  suit,  but  you're 
not  the  man  to  steer  a  delicate  thing  of  this 
kind." 

This  is  how,  to  my  infinite  relief,  the  Celeb 
rity  came  to  engineer  the  matter  of  the  house- 
warming  ;  and  to  him  it  was  much  more 
congenial.  He  accepted  the  task  cheerfully, 
and  went  about  it  in  such  a  manner  as  to  leave 


The  Celebrity  57 

no  doubt  in  my  mind  as  to  its  ultimate  success. 
He  was  a  master  hand  at  just  such  problems, 
and  this  one  had  a  double  attraction.  It  pleased 
him  to  be  thought  the  arbiter  of  such  a  worthy 
cause,  while  he  acquired  a  prominence  at  As- 
quith  which  satisfied  in  some  part  a  craving 
which  he  found  inseparable  from  incognito. 

His  tactics  were  worthy  of  a  skilled  diploma 
tist.  Before  we  left  Mohair  that  day  he  had 
exacted  as  a  condition  that  Mr.  Cooke  should 
not  appear  at  the  inn  or  in  its  vicinity  until 
after  the  entertainment.  To  this  my  client 
readily  pledged  himself  with  that  absolute  free- 
dor:  from  suspicion  which  formed  one  of  the 
most  admirable  traits  of  his  character.  The 
Celebrity,  being  intuitively  quick  where  women 
were  concerned,  had  surmised  that  Mrs.  Cooke 
did  not  like  him  ;  but  as  her  interests  in  the 
affair  of  the  cotillon  coincided  with  those  of 
Mr.  Cooke,  she  was  available  as  a  means  to  an 
end.  The  Celebrity  deemed  her,  from  a  social 
standpoint,  decidedly  the  better  part  of  the 
Mohair  establishment,  and  he  contrived,  by  a 
system  of  manoeuvres  I  failed  to  grasp,  to  throw 
her  forward  while  he  kept  Mr.  Cooke  in  the 
background. 


58  The  Celebrity 

He  had  much  to  contend  with ;  above  all,  an 
antecedent  prejudice  against  the  Cookes,  in 
reality  a  prejudice  against  the  world,  the  flesh, 
and  the  devil,  natural  to  any  quiet  community, 
and  of  which  Mohair  and  its  appurtenances 
were  taken  as  the  outward  and  visible  signs. 
Older  people  came  to  Asquith  for  simplicity 
and  rest,  and  the  younger  ones  were  brought 
there  for  these  things.  Nearly  all  had  sufficient 
wealth  to  seek,  if  they  chose,  gayety  and  osten 
tation  at  the  eastern  resorts.  But  Asquithians 
held  gayety  and  ostentation  at  a  discount,  and 
maintained  there  was  gayety  enough  at  home. 

If  any  one  were  fitted  to  overcome  this  preju 
dice,  it  was  Mrs.  Cooke.  Her  tastes  and  man 
ners  were  as  simple  as  her  gowns.  The  Celeb 
rity,  by  arts  unknown,  induced  Mrs.  Judge 
Short  and  two  other  ladies  to  call  at  Mohair 
on  a  certain  afternoon  when  Mr.  Cooke  was 
trying  a  trotter  on  the  track.  The  three  re 
turned  wondering  and  charmed  with  Mrs.  Cooke; 
they  were  sure  she  had  had  no  hand  in  the  fur 
nishing  of  that  atrocious  house.  Their  example 
was  followed  by  others  at  a  time  when  the 
master  of  Mohair  was  superintending  in  person 
the  docking  of  some  two-year-olds,  and  equally 


The  Celebrity  59 

invisible.  These  ladies  likewise  came  back  to 
sing  Mrs.  Cooke's  praises.  Mrs.  Cooke  re 
turned  the  calls.  She  took  tea  on  the  inn 
veranda,  and  drove  Mrs.  Short  around  Mohair 
in  her  victoria. 

Mr.  Cooke  being  seen  only  on  rare  and  fleet 
ing  occasions,  there  gradually  got  abroad  a  most 
curious  misconception  of  that  gentleman's  char 
acter,  while  over  his  personality  floated  a  mist 
of  legend  which  the  Celebrity  took  good  care 
not  to  dispel.  Farrar,  who  despised  nonsense, 
was  ironical  and  non-committal  when  appealed 
to,  and  certainly  I  betrayed  none  of  my  client's 
attributes.  Hence  it  came  that  Asquith,  before 
the  house-warming,  knew  as  little  about  Far- 
quhar  Fenelon  Cooke,  the  man,  as  the  nineteenth 
century  knows  about  William  Shakespeare,  and 
was  every  whit  as  curious.  Like  Shakespeare, 
Mr.  Cooke  was  judged  by  his  works,  and  from 
these  he  was  generally  conceded  to  be  an  illit 
erate  and  indifferent  person  of  barbarous  tastes 
and  a  mania  for  horses.  He  was  further  de 
scribed  as  ungentlemanly  by  a  brace  of  spin 
sters  who  had  been  within  earshot  on  the 
veranda  the  morning  he  had  abused  the  As 
quith  roads,  but  their  evidence  was  not  looked 


60  The  Celebrity 

upon  as  damning.  That  Mr.  Cooke  would 
appear  at  the  cotillon  never  entered  any  one's 
head. 

Thus  it  was,  for  a  fortnight,  Mr.  Cooke  main 
tained  a  most  rigid  seclusion.  Would  that  he 
had  discovered  in  the  shroud  of  mystery  the 
cloak  of  fame ! 


CHAPTER   V 

IT  was  small  wonder,  said  the  knowing  at 
Asquith,  that  Mr.  Charles  Wrexell  Allen  should 
be  attracted  by  Irene  Trevor.  With  the  lake 
breezes  of  the  north  the  red  and  the  tan  came 
into  her  cheeks,  those  boon  companions  of  the 
open  who  are  best  won  by  the  water-winds. 
Perhaps  they  brought,  too,  the  spring  to  the 
step  and  the  light  under  the  long  lashes  when 
she  flashed  a  look  across  the  table.  Little  by 
little  it  became  plain  that  Miss  Trevor  was 
gaining  ground  with  the  Celebrity  to  the  neg 
lect  of  the  other  young  women  at  Asquith,  and 
when  it  was  announced  that  he  was  to  lead  the 
cotillon  with  her,  the  fact  was  regarded  as  sig 
nificant.  Even  at  Asquith  such  things  were 
talked  about.  Mr.  Allen  became  a  topic  and 
a  matter  of  conjecture.  He  was,  I  believe, 
generally  regarded  as  a  good  match  ;•  his  unim 
peachable  man-servant  argued  worldly  posses 
sions,  of  which  other  indications  were  not 
lacking,  while  his  crest  was  cited  as  a  mate- 
61 


62  The  Celebrity 

rial  sign  of  family.  Yet  when  Miss  Brewster, 
one  of  the  brace  of  spinsters,  who  hailed  from 
Brookline  and  purported  to  be  an  up-to-date 
•edition  of  the  Boston  Blue  Book,  questioned  the 
Celebrity  on  this  vital  point  after  the  searching 
manner  warranted  by  the  gravity  of  the  subject, 
he  was  unable  to  acquit  himself  satisfactorily. 
When  this  conversation  was  repeated  in  detail 
within  the  hearing  of  the  father  of  the  young 
woman  in  question,  and  undoubtedly  for  his 
benefit,  Mr.  Trevor  threw  shame  to  the  winds 
and  scandalized  the  Misses  Brewster  then  and 
there  by  proclaiming  his  father  to  have  been 
a  country  storekeeper. 

In  the  eyes  of  Mr.  Farquhar  Fenelon  Cooke 
the  apotheosis  of  the  Celebrity  was  complete. 
The  people  of  Asquith  were  not  only  willing 
to  attend  the  house-warming,  but  had  been 
worked  up  to  the  pitch  of  eagerness.  The 
Celebrity  as  a  matter  of  course  was  master  of 
ceremonies.  He  originated  the  figures  and 
arranged  the  couples,  of  which  there  were 
twelve  from  Asquith  and  ten  additional  young 
women.  These  ten  were  assigned  to  the  ten 
young  men  whom  Mr.  Cooke  expected  in  his 
private  car,  and  whose  appearances,  heights, 


The  Celebrity  63 

and  temperaments  the  Celebrity  obtained  from 
Mr.  Cooke,  carefully  noted,  and  compared  with 
those  of  the  young  women.  Be  it  said  in  pass 
ing  that  Mrs.  Cooke  had  nothing  to  do  with 
any  of  it,  but  exhibited  an  almost  criminal  in 
difference.  Mr.  Cooke  had  even  chosen  the 
favors ;  charity  forbids  that  I  should  say  what 
they  were. 

Owing  to  the  frequent  consultations  which 
these  preparations  made  necessary  the  Celebrity 
was  much  in  the  company  of  my  client,  which 
he  came  greatly  to  prefer  to  mine,  and  I  there 
fore  abandoned  my  determination  to  leave 
Asquith.  I  was  settling  down  delightedly  to 
my  old,  easy,  and  unmolested  existence  when 
Farrar  and  I  received  an  invitation,  which 
amounted  to  a  summons,  to  go  to  Mohair  and 
make  ourselves  generally  useful.  So  we  packed 
up  and  went.  We  made  an  odd  party  before 
the  arrival  of  the  Ten,  particularly  when  the 
Celebrity  dropped  in  for  lunch  or  dinner.  He 
could  not  be  induced  to  remain  permanently 
at  Mohair  because  Miss  Trevor  was  at  Asquith, 
but  he  appropriated  a  Hempstead  cart  from 
the  Mohair  stables  and  made  the  trip  some 
times  twice  in  a  day.  The  fact  that  Mrs.  Cooke 


64  The  Celebrity 

treated  him  with  unqualified  disapproval  did 
not  dampen  his  spirits  or  lessen  the  frequency 
of  his  visits,  nor,  indeed,  did  it  seem  to  create 
any  breach  between  husband  and  wife.  Mr. 
Cooke  took  it  for  granted  that  his  friends 
should  not  please  his  wife,  and  Mrs.  Cooke 
remarked  to  Farrar  and  me  that  her  husband 
was  old  enough  to  know  better,  and  too  old  to 
be  taught.  She  loved  him  devotedly  and  showed 
it  in  a  hundred  ways,  but  she  was  absolutely 
incapable  of  dissimulation. 

Thanks  to  Mrs.  Cooke,  our  visit  to  Mohair 
was  a  pleasant  one.  We  were  able  in  many 
ways  to  help  in  the  arrangements,  especially 
Farrar,  who  had  charge  of  decorating  the 
grounds.  We  saw  but  little  of  Mr.  Cooke  and 
the  Celebrity. 

The  arrival  of  the  Ten  was  an  event  of  im 
portance,  and  occurred  the  day  of  the  dance. 
I  shall  treat  the  Ten  as  a  whole  because  they 
did  not  materially  differ  from  one  another  in 
dress  or  habits  or  ambition  or  general  useful 
ness  on  this  earth.  It  is  true  that  Mr.  Cooke 
had  been  able  to  make  delicate  distinctions 
between  them  for  the  aid  of  the  Celebrity,  but 
such  distinctions  were  beyond  me,  and  the 


The  Celebrity  65 

power  to  make  them  lay  only  in  a  long  and 
careful  study  of  the  species  which  I  could  not 
afford  to  give.  Likewise  the  life  of  any  one 
of  the  Ten  was  the  life  of  all,  and  might  be 
truthfully  represented  by  a  single  year,  since 
each  year  was  exactly  like  the  preceding.  The 
ordinary  year,  as  is  well-known,  begins  on  the 
first  of  January.  But  theirs  was  not  the  ordi 
nary  year,  nor  the  Church  year,  nor  the  fiscal 
year.  Theirs  began  in  the  Fall  with  the  New 
York  Horse  Show.  And  I  am  of  the  opinion, 
though  open  to  correction,  that  they  dated  from 
the  first  Horse  Show  instead  of  from  the  birth 
of  Christ.  It  is  certain  that  they  were  much 
better  versed  in  the  history  of  the  Association 
than  in  that  of  the  Union,  in-  the  biography  of 
Excelsior  rather  than  that  of  Lincoln.  The 
Dog  Show  was  another  event  to  which  they 
looked  forward,  when  they  migrated  to  New 
York  and  put  up  at  the  country  places  of  their 
friends.  But  why  go  farther? 

The  Ten  made  themselves  very  much  at  home 
at  Mohair.  One  of  them  told  the  Celebrity  he 
reminded  him  very  much  of  a  man  he  had  met 
in  New  York  and  who  had  written  a  book,  or 
something  of  that  sort,  which  made  the  Celeb- 


66  The  Celebrity 

rity  wince.  The  afternoon  was  spent  in  one 
of  the  stable  lofts,  where  Mr.  Cooke  had  set 
up  a  mysterious  L-shaped  box,  in  one  arm  of 
which  a  badger  was  placed  by  a  groom,  while 
my  client's  Sarah,  a  terrier,  was  sent  into  the 
other  arm  to  invite  the  badger  out.  His  ob 
jections  exceeded  the  highest  hopes ;  he  dug 
his  claws  into  the  wood  and  devoted  himself 
to  Sarah's  countenance  with  unremitting  in 
dustry.  This  occupation  was  found  so  absorb 
ing  that  it  was  with  difficulty  the  Ten  were 
induced  to  abandon  it  and  dress  for  an  early 
dinner,  and  only  did  so  after  the  second  per 
emptory  message  from  Mrs.  Cooke. 

"It's  always  this  way,"  said  Mr:  Cooke,  re 
gretfully,  as  he  watched  Sarah  licking  the  acces 
sible  furrows  in  her  face ;  "  I  never  started  in 
on  anything  worth  doing  yet  that  Maria  did 
not  stop  it." 

Farrar  and  I  were  not  available  for  the  dance, 
and  after  dinner  we  looked  about  for  a  quiet 
spot  in  which  to  weather  it,  and  where  we  could 
be  within  reach  if  needed.  Such  a  place  as 
this  was  the  Florentine  galleried  porch,  which 
ran  along  outside  the  upper  windows  of  the 
ball-room ;  these  were  flung  open,  for  the  night 


The  Celebrity  67 

was  warm.  At  one  end  of  the  room  the  musi 
cians,  imported  from  Minneapolis  by  Mr.  Cooke, 
were  striking  the  first  discordant  notes  of  the 
tuning,  while  at  the  other  the  Celebrity  and 
my  client,  in  scarlet  hunting-coats,  were  gravely 
instructing  the  Ten,  likewise  in  scarlet  hunting- 
coats,  as  to  their  conduct  and  functions.  We 
were  reviewing  these  interesting  proceedings 
when  Mrs.  Cooke  came  hurrying  towards  us. 
She  held  a  letter  in  her  hand. 

"You  know,"  said  she,  "that  Mr.  Cooke  is 
forgetful,  particularly  when  his  mind  is  occupied 
with  important  matters,  as  it  has  been  for  some 
time.  Here  is  a  letter  from  my  niece,  Miss 
Thorn,  which  he  has  carried  in  his  pocket  since 
Monday.  We  expected  her  two  weeks  ago,  and 
had  given  her  up.  But  it  seems  she  was  to 
leave  Philadelphia  on  Wednesday,  and  will  be 
at  that  forlorn  little  station  of  Asquith  at  half- 
past  nine  to-night.  I  want  you  two  to  go  over 
and  meet  her." 

We  expressed  our  readiness,  and  in  ten  min 
utes  were  in  the  station  wagon,  rolling  rapidly 
down  the  long  drive,  for  it  was  then  after  nine. 
We  passed  on  the  way  the  van  of  the  guests 
from  Asquith.  As  we  reached  the  lodge  we 


68  The  Celebrity 

heard  the  whistle,  and  we  backed  up  against 
one  side  of  the  platform  as  the  train  pulled 
up  at  the  other. 

Farrar  and  I  are  not  imaginative ;  we  did  not 
picture  to  ourselves  any  particular  type  for  the 
girl  we  were  going  to  meet,  we  were  simply 
doing  our  best  to  get  to  the  station  before  the 
train.  We  jumped,  from  the  wagon  and  were 
watching  the  people  file  out  of  the  car,  and  I 
noticed  that  more  than  one  paused  to  look  back 
over  their  shoulders  as  they  reached  the  door. 
Then  came  a  maid  with  hand-bag  and  shawls, 
and  after  her  a  tall  young  lady.  She  stood  for 
a  moment  holding  her  skirt  above  the  grimy 
steps,  with  something  of  the  stately  pose  which 
Richter  has  given  his  Queen  Louise  on  the 
stairway,  and  the  light  of  the  reflector  fell  full 
upon  her.  She  looked  around  expectantly,  and 
recognizing  Mrs.  Cooke's  maid,  who  had  stepped 
forward  to  relieve  hers  of  the  shawls,  Miss 
Thorn  greeted  her  with  a  smile  which  greatly 
prepossessed  us  in  her  favor. 

"  How  do  you  do,  Jennie  ?  "  she  said.  "  Did 
any  one  else  come?" 

"  Yes,  Miss  Marian,"  replied  Jennie,  abashed 
but  pleased,  —  "these  gentlemen." 


The  Celebrity  69 

Farrar  and  I  introduced  ourselves,  awkwardly 
enough,  and  we  both  tried  to  explain  at  once 
how  it  was  that  neither  Mr.  nor  Mrs.  Cooke 
was  there  to  meet  her.  Of  course  we  made 
an  absolute  failure  of  it.  She  scanned  our  faces 
with  a  puzzled  expression  for  a  while  and  then 
broke  into  a  laugh. 

"I  think  I  understand,"  she  said;  "they  are 
having  the  house-warming." 

"  She's  first-rate  at  guessing,"  said  Farrar  to 
me  as  we  fled  precipitately  to  see  that  the 
trunks  were  hoisted  into  the  basket. 

Neither  of  us  had  much  presence  of  mind  as 
we  climbed  into  the  wagon,  and,  what  was  even 
stranger,  could  not  account  for  the  lack  of  it. 
Miss  Thorn  was  seated  in  the  corner ;  in  spite 
of  the  darkness  I  could  see  that  she  was  laugh 
ing  at  us  still. 

"  I  feel  very  badly  that  I  should  have  taken 
you  away  from  the  dance,"  we  heard  her  say. 

"We  don't  dance,"  I  answered  clumsily, 
"and  we  were  glad  to  come." 

"Yes,  we  were  glad  to  come,"  Farrar  chimed 
in. 

Then  we  relapsed  into  a  discomfited  silence, 
and  wished  we  were  anywhere  else.  But  Miss 


70  The  Celebrity 

Thorn  relieved  the  situation  by  laughing  aloud, 
and  with  such  a  hearty  enjoyment  that  instead 
of  getting  angry  and  more  mortified  we  began 
to  laugh  ourselves,  and  instantly  felt  better. 
After  that  we  got  along  famously.  She  had  at 
once  the  air  of  good  fellowship  and  the  dignity 
of  a  woman,  and  she  seemed  to  understand  Far- 
rar  and  me  perfectly.  Not  once  did  she  take  us 
over  our  heads,  though  she  might  have  done  so 
with  ease,  and  we  knew  this  and  were  thankful. 
We  began  to  tell  her  about  Mohair  and  the 
cotillon,  and  of  our  point  of  observation  from 
the  Florentine  galleried  porch,  and  she  insisted 
she  would  join  us  there.  By  the  time  we 
reached  the  house  we  were  thanking  our  stars 
she  had  come.  Mrs.  Cooke  came  out  under  the 
port-cochere  to  welcome  her. 

"  Unfortunately  there  is  no  one  to  dance  with 
you,  Marian,"  she  said;  "but  if  I  had  not  by 
chance  gone  through  your  uncle's  pockets,  there 
would  have  been  no  one  to  meet  you." 

I  think  I  had  never  felt  my  deficiency  in 
dancing  until  that  moment.  But  Miss  Thorn 
took  her  aunt's  hand  affectionately  in  hers. 

"  My  dear  Aunt  Maria,"  said  she,  "  I  would 
not  dance  to-night  if  there  were  twenty  to  choose 


The  Celebrity  71 

from.  I  should  like  nothing  better  than  to  look 
on  with  these  two.  We  are  the  best  of  friends 
already,"  she  added,  turning  towards  us,  "are 
we  not  ?" 

"  We  are  indeed,"  we  hastened  to  assure  her. 

Mrs.  Cooke  smiled. 

"You  should  have  been  a  man,  Marian,"  she 
said  as  they  went  upstairs  together. 

We  made  our  way  to  the  galleried  porch  and 
sat  down,  there  being  a  lull  in  the  figures  just 
then.  We  each  took  out  a  cigar  and  lighted  a 
match,  and  then  looked  across  at  the  other.  We 
solemnly  blew  our  matches  out. 

"  Perhaps  she  doesn't  like  smoke,"  said  Far- 
rar,  voicing  the  sentiment. 

"  Perhaps  not,"  said  I. 

Silence. 

"I  wonder  how  she  will  get  along  with  the 
Ten  ?  "  I  queried. 

"  Better  than  with  us,"  he  answered  in  his 
usual  strain.  "They're  trained." 

"  Or  with  Allen  ?  "     I  added  irresistibly. 

"Women  are  all  alike,"  said  Farrar. 

At  this  juncture  Miss  Thorn  herself  appeared 
at  the  end  of  the  gallery,  her  shoulders  wrapped 
in  a  gray  cape  trimmed  with  fur.  She  stood 


72  The  Celebrity 

regarding  us  with  some  amusement  as  we  rose 
to  receive  her. 

"  Light  your  cigars  and  be  sensible,"  said  she, 
"or  I  shall- go  in." 

We  obeyed.  The  three  of  us  turned  to  the 
window  to  watch  the  figure,  the  music  of  which 
was  just  beginning.  Mr.  Cooke,  with  the  air  of 
an  English  squire  at  his  own  hunt  ball,  was 
strutting  contentedly  up  and  down  one  end  of 
the  room,  now  pausing  to  exchange  a  few  hearty 
words  with  some  Presbyterian  matron  from 
Asquith,  now  to  congratulate  Mr.  Trevor  on  the 
appearance  of  his  daughter.  Lined  against  the 
opposite  wall  were  the  Celebrity  and  his  ten 
red-coated  followers,  just  rising  for  the  figure. 
It  was  very  plain  that  Miss  Trevor  was  radiantly 
happy ;  she  was  easily  the  handsomest  girl  in 
the  room,  and  I  could  not  help  philosophizing 
when  J  saw  her  looking  up  into  the  Celebrity's 
eyes  upon  the  seeming  inconsistency  of  nature, 
who  has  armed  and  warned  woman  against  all 
but  her  most  dangerous  enemy. 

And  then  a  curious  thing  happened.  The 
Celebrity,  as  if  moved  by  a  sudden  uncontrol 
lable  impulse,  raised  his  eyes  until  they  rested 
on  the  window  in  which  we  were.  Although  his 


The  Celebrity  73 

dancing  was  perfect,  he  lost  the  step  without 
apparent  cause,  his  expression  changed,  and  for 
the  moment  he  seemed  to  be  utterly  confused. 
But  only  for  the  moment ;  in  a  trice  he  had 
caught  the  time  again  and  swept  Miss  Trevor 
rapidly  down  the  room  and  out  of  sight.  I 
looked  instinctively  at  the  girl  beside  me.  She 
had  thrown  her  head  forward,  and  in  the  stream 
ing  light  I  saw  that  her  lips  were  parted  in  a 
smile. 

I  resolved  upon  a  stroke. 

"Mr.  Allen,"  I  remarked,  "leads  admirably." 

"  Mr.  Allen  !  "   she  exclaimed,  turning  on  me. 

"Yes,  it  is  Mr.  Allen  who  is  leading,"  I 
repeated. 

An  expression  of  perplexity  spread  over  her 
face,  but  she  said  nothing.  My  curiosity  was 
aroused  to  a  high  pitch,  and  questions  were  ris 
ing  to  my  lips  which  I  repressed  with  difficulty. 
For  Miss  Thorn  had  displayed,  purposely  or  not, 
a  reticence  which  my  short  acquaintance  with 
her  compelled  me  to  respect ;  and,  besides,  I 
was  bound  by  a  promise  not  to  betray  the 
Celebrity's  secret.  I  was,  however,  convinced 
from  what  had  occurred  that  she  had  met  the 
Celebrity  in  the  East,  and  perhaps  known  him. 


74  The  Celebrity 

Had  she  fallen  in  love  with  him,  as  was  the 
common  fate  of  all  young  women  he  met  ?  I 
changed  my  opinion  on  this  subject  a  dozen 
times.  Now  I  was  sure,  as  I  looked  at  her,  that 
she  was  far  too  sensible ;  again,  a  doubt  would 
cross  my  mind  as  the  Celebrity  himself  would 
cross  my  view,  the  girl  on  his  arm  reduced  to 
adoration.  I  followed  him  narrowly  when  in 
sight.  Miss  Thorn  was  watching  him,  too,  her 
eyes  half  closed,  as  though  in  thought.  But 
beyond  the  fact  that  he  threw  himself  into  the 
dance  with  a  somewhat  increased  fervor,  perhaps, 
his  manner  betokened  no  uneasiness,  and  not 
even  by  a  glance  did  he  betray  any  disturbing 
influence  from  above. 

Thus  we  stood  silently  until  the  figure  was 
finished,  when  Miss  Thorn  seated  herself  in  one 
of  the  wicker  chairs  behind  us. 

"  Doesn't  it  make  you  wish  to  dance  ? "  said 
Farrar  to  her.  "  It  is  hard  luck  you  should  be 
doomed  to  spend  the  evening  with  two  such 
useless  fellows  as  we  are." 

She  did  not  catch  his  remark  at  first,  as  was 
natural  in  a  person  preoccupied.  Then  she  bit 
her  lips  to  repress  a  smile. 

"I    assure   you,  Mr.   Farrar,"  she   said  with 


The  Celebrity  75 

force,  "  I  have  never  in  my  life  wished  to  dance 
as  little  as  I  do  now." 

But  a  voice  interrupted  her,  and  the  scarlet 
coat  of  the  Celebrity  was  thrust  into  the  light 
between  us.  Farrar  excused  himself  abruptly 
and  disappeared. 

"  Never  wished  to  dance  less ! "  cried  the 
Celebrity.  "  Upon  my  word,  Miss  Thorn,  that's 
too  bad.  I  came  up  to  ask  you  to  reconsider 
your  determination,  as  one  of  the  girls  from 
Asquith  is  leaving,  and  there  is  an  extra  man." 

"  You  are  very  kind,"  said  Miss  Thorn,  quietly, 
"but  I  prefer  to  remain  here." 

My  surmise,  then,  was  correct.  She  had  evi 
dently  met  the  Celebrity,  and  there  was  that  in 
his  manner  of  addressing  her,  without  any  for 
mal  greeting,  which  seemed  to  point  to  a  close 
acquaintance. 

"You  know  Mr.  Allen,  then,  Miss  Thorn?" 
said  I. 

"What  can  you  mean  ?"  she  exclaimed,  wheel 
ing  on  me ;  "  this  is  not  Mr.  Allen." 

"Hang  you,  Crocker,"  the  Celebrity  put  in 
impatiently  ;  "  Miss  Thorn  knows  who  I  am  as 
well  as  you  do." 

"  I  confess  it  is  a  little  puzzling,"  said  she ; 


76  The  Celebrity 

"  perhaps  it  is  because  I  am  tired  from  travelling, 
and  my  brain  refuses  to  work.  But  why  in  the 
name  of  all  that  is  strange  do  you  call  him  Mr. 
Allen?" 

The  Celebrity  threw  himself  into  the  chair 
beside  her  and  asked  permission  to  light  a 
cigarette. 

"  I  am  going  to  ask  you  the  favor  of  respect 
ing  my  incognito,  Miss  Thorn,  as  Crocker  has 
done,"  he  said.  " Crocker  knew  me  in  the  East, 
too.  I  had  not  counted  upon  finding  him  at 
Asquith." 

Miss  Thorn  straightened  herself  and  made  a 
gesture  of  impatience. 

"  An  incognito  !  "  she  cried.  "  But  you  have 
taken  another  man's  name.  And  you  already 
had  his  face  and  figure  !" 

I  jumped. 

"That  is  so,"  he  calmly  returned ;  "the  name 
was  ready  to  hand,  and  so  I  took  it.  I  don't 
imagine  it  will  make  any  difference  to  him.  It's 
only  a  whim  of  mine,  and  with  me  there's  no 
accounting  for  a  whim.  I  make  it  a  point  to 
gratify  every  one  that  strikes  me.  I  confess  to 
being  eccentric,  you  know." 

"  You  must  get  an  enormous  amount  of  grati- 


The  Celebrity  77 

fication  out  of  this,"  she  said  dryly.  "What  if 
the  other  man  should  happen  along  ? " 

"  Scarcely  at  Asquith." 

"  I  have  known  stranger  things  to  occur," 
said  she. 

The  Celebrity  smiled  and  smoked. 

"  I'll  wager,  now,"  he  went  on,  "that  you  little 
thought  to  find  me  here  incognito.  But  it  is 
delicious,  I  assure  you,  to  lead  once  more  a  com 
monplace  and  unmolested  existence." 

"  Delightful,"  said  Miss  Thorn. 

"  People  never  consider  an  author  apart  from 
his  work,  you  know,  and  I  confess  I  had  a  desire 
to  find  out  how  I  would  get  along.  And  there 
comes  a  time  when  a  man  wishes  he  had  never 
written  a  book,  and  a  longing  to  be  sought  after 
for  his  own  sake  and  to  be  judged  on  his  own 
merits.  And  then  it  is  a  great  relief  to  feel  that 
one  is  not  at  the  beck  and  call  of  any  one  and 
every  one  wherever  one  goes,  and  to  know  that 
one  is  free  to  choose  one's  own  companions  and 
do  as  one  wishes." 

"The  sentiment  is  good,"  Miss  Thorn  agreed, 
"  very  good.  But  doesn't  it  seem  a  little  odd, 
Mr.  Crocker,"  she  continued,  appealing  to  me, 
"that  a  man  should  take  the  pains  to  advertise 


78  The  Celebrity 

a  trip  to  Europe  in  order  to  gratify  a  whim  of 
this  sort  ? " 

"  It  is  indeed  incomprehensible  to  me,"  I  re 
plied,  with  a  kind  of  grim  pleasure,  "but  you 
must  remember  that  I  have  always  led  a  com 
monplace  existence." 

Although  the  Celebrity  was  almost  impervious 
to  sarcasm,  he  was  now  beginning  to  exhibit 
visible  signs  of  uneasiness,  the  consciousness 
dawning  upon  him  that  his  eccentricity  was  not 
receiving  the  ovation  it  merited.  It  was  with  a 
palpable  relief  that  he  heard  the  first  warning 
notes  of  the  figure. 

"Am  I  to  understand  that  you  wish  me  to  do 
my  part  in  concealing  your  identity  ? "  asked 
Miss  Thorn,  cutting  him  short  as  he  was  ex 
pressing  pleasure  at  her  arrival. 

"If  you  will  be  so  kind,"  he  answered,  and 
departed  with  a  bow. 

There  was  a  mischievous  mirth  in  her  eye  as 
she  took  her  place  in  the  window.  Below  in  the 
ball-room  sat  Miss  Trevor  surrounded  by  men, 
and  I  saw  her  face  lighting  at  the  Celebrity's 
approach. 

"  Who  is  that  beautiful  girl  he  is  dancing 
with?"  said  Miss  Thorn. 


The  Celebrity  79 

I  told  her. 

"  Have  you  read  his  books  ?  "  she  asked,  after 
a  pause. 

"  Some  of  them." 

"So  have  I." 

The  Celebrity  was  not  mentioned  again  that 
evening. 


CHAPTER  VI 

As  an  endeavor  to  unite  Mohair  and  Asquith 
the  cotillon  had  proved  a  dismal  failure.  They 
were  as  the  clay  and  the  brass.  The  next 
morning  Asquith  was  split  into  factions  and 
rent  by  civil-  strife,  and  the  porch  of  the  inn 
was  covered  by  little  knots  of  women,  all  trying 
to  talk  at  once ;  their  faces  told  an  ominous  tale. 
Not  a  man  was  to  be  seen.  The  Minneapolis, 
St.  Paul,  and  Chicago  papers,  all  of  which  had 
previously  contained  elaborate  illustrated  ac 
counts  of  Mr.  Cooke's  palatial  park  and  resi 
dence,  came  out  that  morning  bristling  with 
headlines  about  the  ball,  incidentally  holding  up 
the  residents  of  a  quiet  and  retiring  little  com 
munity  in  a  light  that  scandalized  them  beyond 
measure.  And  Mr.  Charles  Wrexell  Allen, 
treasurer  of  the  widely  known  Miles  Standish 
Bicycle  Company,  was  said  to  have  led  the  cotil 
lon  in  a  manner  that  left  nothing  to  be  desired. 

So  it  was  this  gentleman  whom  the  Celebrity 
was  personating  !     A  queer  whim  indeed. 
So 


The  Celebrity  81 

After  that,  I  doubt  if  the  court  of  Charles  the 
Second  was  regarded  by  the  Puritans  with  a 
greater  abhorrence  than  was  Mohair  by  the  good 
ladies  of  Asquith.  Mr.  Cooke  and  his  ten 
friends  were  branded  as  profligates  whose  very 
scarlet  coats  bore  witness  that  they  were  of  the 
devil.  Mr.  Cooke  himself,  who  particularly 
savored  of  brimstone,  would  much  better  have 
remained  behind  the  arras,  for  he  was  denounced 
with  such  energy  and  bitterness  that  those  who 
might  have  attempted  his  defence  were  silent, 
and  their  very  silence  told  against  them.  Mr. 
Cooke  had  indeed  outdone  himself  in  hospitality. 
He  had  posted  punch-bowls  in  every  available 
corner,  and  so  industriously  did  he  devote  him 
self  to  the  duties  of  host,  as  he  conceived  them, 
that  as  many  as  four  of  the  patriarchs  of  Asquith 
and  pillars  of  the  church  had  returned  home 
more  or  less  insensible,  while  others  were  quite 
incoherent.  The  odds  being  overwhelming,  the 
master  of  Mohair  had  at  length  fallen  a  victim 
to  his  own  good  cheer.  He  took  post  with 
Judge  Short  at  the  foot  of  the  stair,  where,  in 
spite  of  the  protests  of  the  Celebrity  and  of 
other  well-disposed  persons,  the  two  favored  the 
parting  guests  with  an  occasional  impromptu 


82  The  Celebrity 

song  and  waved  genial  good-byes  to  the  ladies. 
And,  when  Mrs.  Short  attempted  to  walk  by 
with  her  head  in  the  air,  as  though  the  judge 
were  in  an  adjoining  county,  he  so  far  forgot  his 
judicial  dignity  as  to  chuck  her  under  the  chin, 
an  act  which  was  applauded  with  much  boyish 
delight  by  Mr.  Cooke,  and  a  remark  which  it  is 
just  as  well  not  to  repeat.  The  judge  desired  to 
spend  the  night  at  Mohair,  but  was  afterwards 
taken  home  by  main  force,  and  the  next  day  his 
meals  were  brought  up  to  him.  It  is  small 
wonder  that  Mrs.  Short  was  looked  upon  as  the 
head  of  the  outraged  party.  The  Ten  were  only 
spoken  of  in  whispers.  Three  of  them  had  been 
unable  to  come  to  time  when  the  last  figure  was 
called,  whereupon  their  partners  were  whisked 
off  the  scene  without  so  much  as  being  allowed 
to  pay  their  respects  to  the  hostess.  Besides 
these  offences,  there  were  other  minor  barbar 
isms  too  numerous  to  mention. 

Although  Mrs.  Short's  party  was  a/1-powerful 
at  Asquith,  there  were  some  who,  for  various 
reasons,  refused  to  agree  in  the  condemnation  of 
Mr.  Cooke.  Judge  Short  and  the  other  gentle 
men  in  his  position  were,  of  course,  restricted, 
but  Mr.  Trevor  came  out  boldly  in  the  face  of 


The  Celebrity  83 

severe  criticism  and  declared  that  his  daughter 
should  accept  any  invitation  from  Mrs.  Cooke 
that  she  chose,  and  paid  but  little  attention  to 
the  coolness  resulting  therefrom.  He  was  fast 
getting  a  reputation  for  oddity.  And  the  Ce 
lebrity  tried  to  conciliate  both  parties,  and  suc 
ceeded,  though  none  but  he  could  have  done  it. 
At  first  he  was  eyed  with  suspicion  and  disgust 
as  he  drove  off  to  Mohair  in  his  Hempstead  cart, 
and  was  called  many  hard  names.  But  he  had  a 
way  about  him  which  won  them  in  the  end. 

A  few  days  later  I  ran  over  to  Mohair  and 
found  my  client  with  the  colored  Sunday  supple 
ment  of  a  Chicago  newspaper  spread  out  before 
him,  eyeing  the  page  with  something  akin  to 
childish  delight.  I  discovered  that  it  was  a 
picture  of  his  own  hunt  ball,  and  as  a  bit  of 
color  it  was  marvellous,  the  scarlet  coats  being 
very  much  in  evidence. 

"There,  old  man!"  he  exclaimed.  "What 
do  you  think  of  that  ?  Something  of  a  send- 
off,  eh  ? "  And  he  pointed  to  a  rather  stout 
and  important  gentleman  in  the  foreground. 
"That's  me!"  he  said  proudly,  "and  they 
wouldn't  do  that  for  Farquhar  Fenelon  Cooke 
in  Philadelphia." 


84  The  Celebrity 

"  A  prophet  is  without  honor  in  his  own 
country,"  I  remarked. 

"  I  don't  set  up  for  a  prophet,"  said  Mr.  Cooke, 
"  but  I  did  predict  that  I  would  start  a  ripple 
here,  didn't  I  ? " 

I  did  not  deny  this. 

"  How  do  I  stand  over  there  ? "  he  inquired, 
designating  Asquith  by  a  twist  of  the  head. 
"  I  hear  they're  acting  all  over  the  road ;  that 
they  think  I'm  the  very  devil." 

"Well,  your  stock  has  dropped  some,  I 
admit,"  I  answered.  "They  didn't  take  kindly 
to  your  getting  the  judge  drunk,  you  know." 

"They  oughtn't  to  complain  about  that," 
said  my  client;  "and  besides,  he  wasn't  drunk 
enough  to  amount  to  anything." 

"However  that  may  be,"  said  I,  "you  have 
the  credit  for  leading  him  astray.  But  there 
is  a  split  in  your  favor." 

"  I'm  glad  to  know  that,"  he  said,  brighten 
ing ;  "then  I  won't  have  to  import  any  more." 

"Any  more  what?"  I  asked. 

"  People  from  the  East  to  keep  things  moving, 
of  course.  What  I  have  here  and  those  left  me 
at  the  inn  ought  to  be  enough  to  run  through 
the  summer  with.  Don't  you  think  so  ? " 


The  Celebrity  85 

I  thought  so,  and  was  moving  off  when  he 
called  me  back. 

"  Is  the  judge  locked  up,  old  man  ? "  he  de 
manded. 

"He's  under  rather  close  surveillance,"  I 
replied,  smiling. 

"Crocker,"  he  said  confidentially,  "see  if  you 
can't  smuggle  him  over  here  some  day  soon. 
The  judge  always  holds  good  cards,  and  plays 
a  number  one  hand." 

I  promised,  and  escaped.  On  the  veranda 
I  came  upon  Miss  Thorn  surrounded  by  some 
of  her  uncle's  guests.  I  imagine  that  she  was 
bored,  for  she  looked  it. 

"Mr.  Crocker,"  she  called  out,  "you're  just 
the  man  I  have  been  wishing  to  see." 

The  others  naturally  took  this  for  a  dismis 
sal,  and  she  was  not  long  in  coming  to  her 
point  when  we  were  alone. 

"  What  is  it  you  know  about  this  queer  but 
gifted  genius  who  is  here  so  mysteriously  ?"  she 
asked. 

"Nothing  whatever,"  I  confessed.  "I  knew 
him  before  he  thought  of  becoming  a  genius." 

"Retrogression  is  always  painful,"  she  said; 
"but  tell  me  something  about  him  then." 


86  The  Celebrity 

I  told  her  all  I  knew,  being  that  narrated 
in  these  pages.  "Now,"  said  I,  "if  you  will 
pardon  a  curiosity  on  my  part,  from  what  you 
said  the  other  evening  I  inferred  that  he  closely 
resembles  the  man  whose  name  it  pleased  him 
to  assume.  And  that  man,  I  learn  from  the 
newspapers,  is  Mr.  Charles  Wrexell  Allen  of 
the  '  Miles  Standish  Bicycle  Company.' ' 

Miss  Thorn  made  a  comic  gesture  of  despair. 

"  Why  he  chose  Mr.  Allen's  name,"  she  said, 
"is  absolutely  beyond  my  guessing.  Unless 
there  is  some  purpose  behind  the  choice,  which 
I  do  not  for  an  instant  believe,  it  was  a  foolish 
thing  to  do,  and  one  very  apt  to  lead  to  difficul 
ties.  I  can  understand  the  rest.  He  has  a 
reputation  for  eccentricity  which  he  feels  he 
must  keep  up,  and  this  notion  of  assuming  a 
name  evidently  appealed  to  him  as  an  inspira 
tion." 

"  But  why  did  he  come  out  here  ? "  I  asked. 
"Can  you  tell  me  that?" 

Miss  Thorn  flushed  slightly,  and  ignored  the 
question. 

"I  met  the  '  Celebrity,'  as  you  call  him,"  she 
said,  "for  the  first  time  last  winter,  and  I  saw 
him  frequently  during  the  season.  Of  course 


The  Celebrity  87 

I  had  heard  not  a  little  about  him  and  his 
peculiarities.  His  name  seems  to  have  gone 
the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land.  And,  like 
most  girls,  I  had  read  his  books  and  confess 
I  enjoyed  them.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say," 
she  added  archly,  "that  I  made  a  sort  of 
archangel  out  of  the  author." 

"I  can  understand  that,"  said  I. 

"But  that  did  not  last,"  she  continued 
hastily.  "  I  see  I  have  got  beside  my  story. 
I  saw  a  great  deal  of  him  in  New  York.  He 
came  to  call,  and  I  believe  I  danced  with  him 
once  or  twice.  And  then  my  aunt,  Mrs.  Rivers, 
bought  a  place  near  Epsom,  in  Massachusetts, 
and  had  a  house  party  there  in  May.  And  the 
Celebrity  was  invited." 

I  smiled. 

"  Oh,  I  assure  you  it  was  a  mere  chance," 
said  Miss  Thorn.  "  I  mention  this  that  I  may 
tell  you  the  astonishing  part  of  it  all.  Epsom 
is  one  of  those  smoky  manufacturing  towns  one 
sees  in  New  England,  and  the  '  Miles  Standish ' 
bicycle  is  made  there.  The  day  after  we  all 
arrived  at  my  aunt's  a  man  came  up  the  drive 
on  a  wheel  whom  I  greeted  in  a  friendly  way 
and  got  a  decidedly  uncertain  bow  in  retura 


88  The  Celebrity 

I  thought  it  rather  a  strange  shift  from  a 
marked  cordiality,  and  spoke  of  the  circum 
stance  to  my  aunt,  who  was  highly  amused. 
'Why,  my  dear,'  said  she,  'that  was  Mr.  Allen, 
of  the  bicycle  company.  I  was  nearly  deceived 
myself.'  " 

"  And  is  the  resemblance  so  close  as  that  ? " 
I  exclaimed. 

"  So  close !  Believe  me,  they  are  as  like  as 
two  ices  from  a  mould.  Of  course,  when  they 
are  together  one  can  distinguish  the  Celebrity 
from  the  bicycle  man.  The  Celebrity's  chin 
is  a  little  more  square,  and  his  nose  straighter, 
and  there  are  other  little  differences.  I  believe 
Mr.  Allen  has  a  slight  scar  on  his  forehead. 
But  the  likeness  was  remarkable,  nevertheless, 
and  it  grew  to  be  a  standing  joke  with  us. 
They  actually  dressed  ludicrously  alike.  The 
Celebrity  became  so  sensitive  about  it  that  he 
went  back  to  New  York  before  the  party  broke 
up.  We  grew  to  be  quite  fond  of  the  bicycle 
man." 

She  paused  and  shifted  her  chair,  which  had 
rocked  close  to  mine. 

"And  can  you  account  for  his  coming  to 
Asquith  ?  "  I  asked  innocently. 


The  Celebrity  89 

She  was  plainly  embarrassed. 

"  I  suppose  I  might  account  for  it,  Mr. 
Crocker,"  she  replied.  Then  she  added,  with 
something  of  an  impulse,  "  After  all,  it  is  fool 
ish  of  me  not  to  tell  you.  You  probably  know 
the  Celebrity  well  enough  to  have  learned  that 
he  takes  idiotic  fancies  to  young  women." 

"  Not  always  idiotic,"  I  protested. 

"You  mean  that  the  young  women  are  not 
always  idiotic,  I  suppose.  No,  not  always,  but 
nearly  always.  I  imagine  he  got  the  idea  of 
coming  to  Asquith,"  she  went  on  with  a  change 
of  manner,  "because  I  chanced  to  mention  that 
I  was  coming  out  here  on  a  visit." 

"Oh,"  I  remarked,  and  there  words  failed 
me. 

Her  mouth  was  twitching  with  merriment. 

"I  am  afraid  you  will  have  to  solve  the  rest 
of  it  for  yourself,  Mr.  Crocker,"  said  she  ;  "  that 
is  all  of  my  contribution.  My  uncle  tells  me 
you  are  the  best  lawyer  in  the  country,  and 
I  am  surprised  that  you  are  so  slow  in  getting 
at  motives." 

And  I  did  attempt  to  solve  it  on  my  way 
back  to  Asquith.  The  conclusion  I  settled  to, 
everything  weighed,  was  this  :  that  the  Celeb- 


90  The  Celebrity 

rity  had  become  infatuated  with  Miss  Thorn 
(I  was  far  from  blaming  him  for  that)  and  had 
followed  her  first  to  Epsom  and  now  to  Asquith. 
And  he  had  chosen  to  come  West  incognito 
partly  through  the  conceit  which  he  admitted 
and  gloried  in,  and  partly  because  he  believed 
his  prominence  sufficient  to  obtain  for  him  an 
unpleasant  notoriety  if  he  continued  long  enough 
to  track  the  same  young  lady  about  the  country. 
Hence  he  had  taken  the  trouble  to  advertise 
a  trip  abroad  to  account  for  his  absence.  Un- 
'doubtedly  his  previous  conquests  had  been  made 
more  easily,  for  my  second  talk  with  Miss  Thorn 
had  put  my  mind  at  rest  as  to  her  having  fallen 
a  victim  to  his  fascinations.  Her  arrival  at 
Mohair  being  delayed,  the  Celebrity  had  come 
nearly  a  month  too  soon,  and  in  the  interval 
that  tendency  of  which  he  was  the  dupe  still 
led  him  by  the  nose ;  he  must  needs  make 
violent  love  to  the  most  attractive  girl  on  the 
ground,  —  Miss  Trevor.  Now  that  one  still 
more  attractive  had  arrived  I  was  curious  to 
see  how  he  would  steer  between  the  two,  for  I 
made  no  doubt  that  matters  had  progressed 
rather  far  with  Miss  Trevor.  And  in  this  I 
was  pot  mistaken. 


The  Celebrity  91 

But  his  choice  of  the  name  of  Charles 
Wrexell  Allen  bothered  me  considerably.  I 
finally  decided  that  he  had  taken  it  because 
convenient,  and  because  he  believed  Asquith 
to  be  more  remote  from  the  East  than  the 
Sandwich  Islands. 

Reaching  the  inn  grounds,  I  climbed  the  hill 
side  to  a  favorite  haunt  of  mine,  a  huge  boulder 
having  a  sloping  back  covered  with  soft  turf. 
Hence  I  could  watch  indifferently  both  lake 
and  sky.  Presently,  however,  I  was  aroused 
by  voices  at  the  foot  of  the  rock,  and  peering 
over  the  edge  I  discovered  a  kind  of  sewing- 
circle  gathered  there.  The  foliage  hid  me 
completely.  I  perceived  the  Celebrity  perched 
upon  the  low  branch  of  an  apple-tree,  and  Miss 
Trevor  below  him,  with  two  other  girls,  doing 
fancy-work.  I  shall  not  attempt  to  defend  the 
morality  of  my  action,  but  I  could  not  get  away 
without  discovery,  and  the  knowledge  that  I 
had  heard  a  part  of  their  conversation  might 
prove  disquieting  to  them. 

The  Celebrity  had  just  published  a  book, 
under  the  title  of  The  Sybarites,  which  was  be 
ing  everywhere  discussed  ;  and  Asquith,  where 
summer  reading  was  general,  came  in  for  its 


92  The  Celebrity 

share  of  the  debate.  Why  it  was  called  The 
Sybarites  I  have  never  discovered.  I  did  not 
read  the  book  because  I  was  sick  and  tired  of 
the  author  and  his  nonsense,  but  I  imbibed,  in 
spite  of  myself,  something  of  the  story  and  its 
moral  from  hearing  it  talked  about.  The  Celeb 
rity  himself  had  listened  to  arguments  on  the 
subject  with  great  serenity,  and  was  nothing 
loth  to  give  his  opinion  when  appealed  to.  I 
realized  at  once  that  The  Sybarites  was  the 
present  topic. 

"Yes,  it  is  rather  an  uncommon  book,"  he 
was  saying  languidly,  "but  there  is  no  use 
writing  a  story  unless  it  is  uncommon." 

"  Dear,  how  I  should  like  to  meet  the  author ! " 
exclaimed  a  voice.  "  He  must  be  a  charming 
man,  and  so  young,  too !  I  believe  you  said 
you  knew  him,  Mr.  Allen." 

"An  old  acquaintance,"  he  answered,  "and  I 
am  always  reminding  him  that  his  work  is  over 
estimated." 

"  How  can  you  say  he  is  overestimated  ! " 
said  a  voice. 

"You  men  are  all  jealous  of  him,"  said 
another. 

"Is  he  handsome?     I  have  heard  he  is." 


The  Celebrity  93 

"He  would  scarcely  be  called  so,"  said  the 
Celebrity,  doubtfully. 

"He  is,  girls,"  Miss  Trevor  interposed ;  "I 
have  seen  his  photograph." 

"What  does  he  look  like,  Irene?"  they  cho- 
russed.  "Men  are  no  judges." 

"  He  is  tall,  and  dark,  and  broad-shouldered," 
Miss  Trevor  enumerated,  as  though  counting 
her  stitches,  "and  he  has  a  very  firm  chin,  and 
a  straight  nose,  and  —  " 

"Perfect!"  they  cried.  "I  had  an  idea  he 
was  just  like  that.  I  should  go  wild  about  him. 
Does  he  talk  as  well  as  he  writes,  Mr.  Allen  ? " 

"That  is  admitting  that  he  writes  well." 

"Admitting?"  they  shouted  scornfully,  "and 
don't  you  admit  it  ?  " 

"  Some  people  like  his  writing,  I  have  to  con 
fess,"  said  the  Celebrity,  with  becoming  calm 
ness  ;  "  certainly  his  personality  could  not  sell 
an  edition  of  thirty  thousand  in  a  month.  I 
think  The  Sybarites  the  best  of  his  works." 

"Upon  my  word,  Mr.  Allen,  I  am  disgusted 
with  you,"  said  the  second  voice  ;  "  I  have  not 
found  a  man  yet  who  would  speak  a  good  word 
for  him.  But  I  did  not  think  it  of  you." 

A  woman's  tongue,  like  a  firearm,  is  a  danger- 


94  The  Celebrity 

ous  weapon,  and  often  strikes  where  it  is  least 
expected.  I  saw  with  a  wicked  delight  that  the 
shot  had  told,  for  the  Celebrity  blushed  to  the 
roots  of  his  hair,  while  Miss  Trevor  dropped 
three  or  four  stitches. 

"  I  do  not  see  how  you  can  expect  men  to  like 
The  Sybarites"  she  said,  with  some  heat ;  "  very 
few  men  realize  or  care  to  realize  what  a  small 
chance  the  average  woman  has.  I  know  mar 
riage  isn't  a  necessary  goal,  but  most  women,  as 
well  as  most  men,  look  forward  to  it  at  some 
time  of  life,  and,  as  a  rule,  a  woman  is  forced  to 
take  her  choice  of  the  two  or  three  men  that 
offer  themselves,  no  matter  what  they  are.  I 
admire  a  man  who  takes  up  the  cudgels  for 
women,  as  he  has  done." 

"  Of  course  we  admire  him,"  they  cried,  as 
soon  as  Miss  Trevor  had  stopped  for  breath. 

"  And  can  you  expect  a  man  to  like  a  book 
which  admits  that  women  are  the  more  con 
stant  ? "  she  'went  on. 

"  Why,  Irene,  you  are  quite  rabid  on  the  sub 
ject,"  said  the  second  voice;  "I  did  not  say  I 
expected  it.  I  only  said  I  had  hoped  to  find 
Mr.  Allen,  at  least,  broad  enough  to  agree  with 
the  book." 


The  Celebrity  95 

"Doesn't  Mr.  Allen  remind  you  a  little  of 
Desmond?"  asked  the  first  voice,  evidently 
anxious  to  avoid  trouble. 

"  Do  you  know  whom  he  took  for  Desmond, 
Mr.  Allen  ?  I  have  an  idea  it  was  himself." 

Mr.  Allen  had  now  recovered  some  of  his 
composure. 

"If  so,  it  was  done  unconsciously,"  he  said. 
"  I  suppose  an  author  must  put  his  best  thoughts 
in  the  mouth  of  his  hero." 

"  But  it  is  like  him  ?  "  she  insisted. 

"Yes,  he  holds  the  same  views." 

"Which  you  do  not  agree  with." 

"I  have  not  said  I  did  not  agree  with  them," 
he  replied,  taking  up  his  own  defence ;  "  the 
point  is  not  that  men  are  more  inconstant  than 
women,  but  that  women  have  more  excuse  for 
inconstancy.  If  I  remember  correctly,  Des 
mond,  in  a  letter  to  Rosamond,  says  :  '  Incon 
stancy  in  a  woman,  because  of  the  present 
social  conditions,  is  often  pardonable.  In  a 
man,  nothing  is  more  despicable.'  I  think  that 
is  so.  I  believe  that  a  man  should  stick  by  the 
woman  to  whom  he  has  given  his  word  as 
closely  as  he  sticks  by  his  friends." 

"  Ah ! "     exclaimed    the    aggressive    second 


96  The  Celebrity 

voice,  "that  is  all  very  well.  But  how  about 
the  woman  to  whom  he  has  not  given  his 
word?  Unfortunately,  the  present  social  con 
ditions  allow  a  man  to  go  pretty  far  without  a 
definite  statement." 

At  this  I  could  not  refrain  from  looking  at 
Miss  Trevor.  She  was  bending  over  her  knit 
ting  and  had  broken  her  thread. 

"  It  is  presumption  for  a  man  to  speak  with 
out  some  foundation,"  said  the  Celebrity,  "and 
wrong  unless  he  is  sure  of  himself." 

"  But  you  must  admit,"  the  second  voice  con 
tinued,  "  that  a  man  has  no  right  to  amuse  him 
self  with  a  woman,  and  give  her  every  reason  to 
believe  he  is  going  to  marry  her  save  the  only 
manly  and  substantial  one.  And  yet  that  is 
something  which  happens  every  day.  What 
do  you  think  of  a  man  who  deserts  a  woman 
under  those  conditions  ?  " 

"He  is  a  detestable  dog,  of  course,"  declared 
the  Celebrity. 

And  the  cock  in  the  inn  yard  was  silent. 

"  I  should  love  to  be  able  to  quote  from  a 
book  at  will,"  said  the  quieting  voice,  for  the 
sake  of  putting  an  end  to  an  argument  which 
bid  fair  to  become  disagreeable.  "  How  do  you 
manage  to  do  it  ? " 


The  Celebrity  97 

-'It  was  simply  a  passage  that  stuck  in  my 
mind,"  he  answered  modestly ;  "  when  I  read 
a  book  I  pick  them  up  just  as  a  roller  picks  up 
a  sod  here  and  there  as  it  moves  over  the  lawn." 

"  I  should  think  you  might  write,  Mr.  Allen, 
you  have  such  an  original  way  of  putting 
things!" 

"  I  have  thought  of  it,"  returned  the  Celeb- 
rity,  "  and  I  may,  some  fine  day." 

Wherewith  he  thrust  his  hands  into  his 
pockets  and  sauntered  off  with  equanimity  un 
disturbed,  apparently  unaware  of  the  impression 
he  had  left  behind  him.  And  the  Fifth  Reader 
story  popped  into  my  head  of  good  King  Wil 
liam  (or  King  Frederick,  I  forgot  which),  who 
had  a  royal  fancy  for  laying  aside  the  gayeties 
of  the  court  and  straying  incognito  among  his 
plainer  subjects,  but  whose  princely  origin  was 
invariably  detected  in  spite  of  any  disguise  his 
Majesty  could  invent. 


CHAPTER   VII 

I  EXPERIENCED  a  great  surprise  a  few  morn 
ings  afterwards.  I  had  risen  quite  early,  and 
found  the  Celebrity's  man  superintending  the 
hoisting  of  luggage  on  top  of  a  van. 

"  Is  your  master  leaving  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  He's  off  to  Mohair  now,  sir,"  said  the  valet, 
with  a  salute. 

At  that  instant  the  Celebrity  himself  ap 
peared. 

"  Yes,  old  chap,  I'm  off  to  Mohair,"  he  ex 
plained.  "There's  more  sport  in  a  day  up  there 
than  you  get  here  in  a  season.  Beastly  slow 
place,  this,  unless  one  is  a  deacon  or  a  doctor 
of  divinity.  Why  don't  you  come  up,  Crocker  ? 
Cooke  would  like  nothing  better ;  he  has  told 
me  so  a  dozen  times." 

"He  is  very  good,"  I  replied.  I  could  not 
resist  the  temptation  to  add,  "I  had  an  idea 
Asquith  rather  suited  your  purposes  just  now." 

"I  don't  quite  understand,"  he  said,  jumping 
at  the  other  half  of  my  meaning. 
98 


The  Celebrity  99 

"  Oh,  nothing.  But  you  told  me  when  you 
came  here,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  that  you 
chose  Asquith  because  of  those  very  qualities 
for  which  you  now  condemn  it." 

" Magna  est  vis  consuetudinis"  he  laughed; 
"  I  thought  I  could  stand  the  life,  but  I  can't. 
I  am  tired  of  their  sects  and  synods  and  ser 
mons.  By  the  way,"  said  he  pulling  at  my 
sleeve,  "what  a  deuced  pretty  girl  that  Miss 
Thorn  is !  Isn't  she  ?  Rollins,  where's  the 
cart  ?  Well,  good-bye,  Crocker  ;  see  you  soon." 

He  drove  rapidly  off  as  the  clock  struck  six, 
and  an  uneasy  glance  he  gave  the  upper  win 
dows  did  not  escape  me.  When  Farrar  ap 
peared,  I  told  him  what  had  happened. 

"  Good  riddance,"  he  replied  sententiously. 

We  sat  in  silence  until  the  bell  rang,  looking 
at  the  morning  sun  on  the  lake.  I  was  a  little 
anxious  to  learn  the  state  of  Farrar's  feelings  in 
regard  to  Miss  Trevor,  and  how  this  new  twist 
in  affairs  had  affected  them.  But  I  might  as 
well  have  expected  one  of  King  Louis's  carp  to 
whisper  secrets  of  the  old  regime.  The  young 
lady  came  to  the  breakfast-table  looking  so 
fresh  and  in  such  high  spirits  that  I  made  sure 
she  had  not  heard  of  the  Celebrity's  ignoble 


ioo  The  Celebrity 

escape.  As  the  meal  proceeded  it  was  easy  to 
mark  that  her  eye  now  and  again  fell  across  his 
empty  chair,  and  glanced  inquiringly  towards 
the  door.  I  made  up  my  mind  that  I  would 
not  be  the  bea^r  of  evil  news,  and  so  did  Far- 
rar,  so  we  kept  up  a  vapid  small-talk  with  Mr. 
Trevor  on  the  condition  of  trade  in  the  West. 
Miss  Trevor,  however,  in  some  way  came  to 
suspect  that  we  could  account  for  that  vacant 
seat.  At  last  she  fixed  her  eye  inquiringly  on 
me,  and  I  trembled. 

"  Mr.  Crocker,"  she  began,  and  paused.  Then 
she  added  with  a  fair  unconcern,  "  do  you  hap 
pen  to  know  where  Mr.  Allen  is  this  morning? " 

"  He  has  gone  over  to  Mohair,  I  believe,"  I 
replied  weakly. 

"  To  Mohair !  "  she  exclaimed,  putting  down 
her  cup ;  "  why,  he  promised  to  go  canoeing  at 
ten." 

"Probably  he  will  be  back  by  then,"  I  ven 
tured,  not  finding  it  in  my  heart  to  tell  her  the 
cruel  truth.  But  I  kept  my  eyes  on  my  plate. 
They  say  a  lie  has  short  legs.  Mine  had,  for 
my  black  friend,  Simpson,  was  at  that  instant 
taking  off  the  fruit,  and  overheard  my  remark. 

"  Mr.  Allen  done  gone  for  good,"  he  put  in, 


The  Celebrity  '."  ibl 

"done  give  me  five  dollars  last  night.  Why, 
sah,"  he  added,  scratching  his  head,  "you  was 
on  de  poch  dis  mornin'  when  his  trunks  was 
took  away ! " 

It  was  certainly  no  time  to  quibble  then. 

"  His  trunks  !  "  Miss  Trevor  exclaimed. 

"Yes,  he  has  left  us  and  gone  to  Mohair,"  I 
said,  "  bag  and  baggage.  That  is  the  flat  truth 
of  it." 

I  suppose  there  is  some  general  rule  for  cal 
culating  beforehand  how  a  young  woman  is 
going  to  act  when  news  of  this  sort  is  broken. 
I  had  no  notion  of  what  Miss  Trevor  would  do. 
I  believe  Farrar  thought  she  would  faint,  for  he 
laid  his  napkin  on  the  table.  She  did  nothing 
of  the  kind,  but  said  simply : 

"  How  unreliable  men  are  !  " 

I  fell  to  guessing  what  her  feelings  were ;  for 
the  life  of  me  I  could  not  tell  from  her  face.  I 
was  sorry  for  Miss  Trevor  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  she  had  neglected  to  ask  my  advice  before 
falling  in  love  with  the  Celebrity.  I  asked  her 
to  go  canoeing  with  me.  She  refused  kindly 
but  very  firmly. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  Celebrity  did 
not  come  back  to  the  inn,  and  as  far  as  I  could 


I O2  The  Celebrity 

see  the  desertion  was  designed,  cold-blooded, 
and  complete.  Miss  Trevor  remained  out  of 
sight  during  the  day  of  his  departure,  and  at 
dinner  we  noticed  traces  of  a  storm  about  her, 
—  a  storm  which  had  come  and  gone.  There 
was  an  involuntary  hush  as  she  entered  the 
dining-room,  for  Asquith  had  been  buzzing  that 
afternoon  over  the  episode.  And  I  admired 
the  manner  in  which  she  bore  her  inspection. 
Already  rumors  of  the  cause  of  Mr.  Allen's  de 
parture  were  in  active  circulation,  and  I  was 
astonished  to  learn  that  he  had  been  seen  that 
day  seated  upon  Indian  rock  with  Miss  Thorn 
herself.  This  piece  of  news  gave  me  a  feeling 
of  insecurity  about  people,  and  about  women  in 
particular,  that  I  had  never  before  experienced. 
After  holding  the  Celebrity  up  to  such  unmeas 
ured  ridicule  as  she  had  done,  ridicule  not  with 
out  a  seasoning  of  contempt,  it  was  difficult  to 
believe  Miss  Thorn  so  inconsistent  as  to  go 
alone  with  him  to  Indian  rock ;  and  she  was 
not  ignorant  of  Miss  Trevor's  experience.  But 
the  fact  was  attested  by  trustworthy  persons. 

I  have  often  wondered  what  prompted  me  to 
ask  Miss  Trevor  again  to  go  canoeing.  To  do 
myself  justice,  it  was  no  wish  of  mine  to  meddle 


The  Celebrity  103 

with  or  pry  into  her  affairs.  Neither  did  I 
flatter  myself  that  my  poor  company  would  be 
any  consolation  for  that  she  had  lost.  I  shall 
not  try  to  analyze  my  motive.  Suffice  it  to 
record  that  she  accepted  this  second  invitation, 
and  I  did  my  best  to  amuse  her  by  relating  a 
few  of  my  experiences  at  the  bar,  and  I  told 
that  memorable  story  of  Farrar  throwing 
O'Meara  into  the  street.  We  were  getting 
along  famously,  when  we  descried  another 
canoe  passing  us  at  some  distance,  and  we  both 
recognized  the  Celebrity  at  the  paddle  by  the 
flannel  jacket  of  his  college  boat  club.  And 
Miss  Thorn  sat  in  the  bow  ! 

"Do  you  know  anything  about  that  man, 
Miss  Trevor?"  I  asked  abruptly. 

She  grew  scarlet,  but  replied  : 

"I  know  that  he  is  a  fraud." 

"  Anything  else  ? " 

"  I  can't  say  that  I  do ;  that  is,  nothing  but 
what  he  has  told  me." 

"  If  you  will  forgive  my  curiosity,"  I  said, 
"  what  has  he  told  you  ?  " 

"  He  says  he  is  the  author  of  The  Syba 
rites,"  she  answered,  her  lip  curling,  "but  of 
course  I  do  not  believe  that,  now." 


IO4  The  Celebrity 

"  But  that  happens  to  be  true,"  I  said,  smil 
ing. 

She  clapped  her  hands. 

"  I  promised  him  I  wouldn't  tell,"  she  cried, 
"  but  the  minute  I  get  back  to  the  inn  I  shall 
publish  it." 

"No,  don't  do  that  just  yet,"  said  I. 

"  Why  not  ?     Of  course  I  shall." 

I  had  no  definite  reason,  only  a  vague  hope 
that  we  should  get  some  better  sort  of  enjoy 
ment  out  of  the  disclosure  before  the  summer 
was  over. 

.  "  You  see,"  I  said,  "  he  is  always  getting  into 
scrapes ;  he  is  that  kind  of  a  man.  And  it  is 
my  humble  opinion  that  he  has  put  his  head 
into  a  noose  this  time,  for  sure.  Mr.  Allen,  of 
the  'Miles  Standish  Bicycle  Company,'  whose 
name  he  has  borrowed  for  the  occasion,  is 
enough  like  him  in  appearance  to  be  his  twin 
brother." 

"  He  has  borrowed  another  man's  name ! "  she 
exclaimed;  "why,  that's  stealing!" 

"  No,  merely  kleptomania,"  I  replied ;  "  he 
wouldn't  be  the  other  man  if  he  could.  But  it 
has  struck  me  that  the  real  Mr.  Allen  might 
turn  up  here,  or  some  friend  of  his,  and  stir 


The  Celebrity  105 

things  a  bit.     My  advice  to  you  is  to  keep  quiet, 
and  we  may  have  a  comedy  worth  seeing." 

"  Well,"  she  remarked,  after  she  had  got  over 
a  little  of  her  astonishment,  "  it  would  be  great 
fun  tc  tell,  but  I  won't  if  you  say  so." 

I  came  to  have  a  real  liking  for  Miss  Trevor, 
i^arrar  used  to  smile  when  I  spoke  of  this,  and 
I  never  could  induce  him  to  go  out  with  us  in 
the  canoe,  which  we  did  frequently,  —  in  fact, 
every  day  I  was  at  Asquith,  except  of  course 
Sundays.  And  we  grew  to  understand  each 
other  very  well.  She  looked  upon  me  in  the 
same  light  as  did  my  other  friends, — that  of  a 
counsellor-at-law,  —  and  I  fell  unconsciously -into 
the  role  of  her  adviser,  in  which  capacity  I  was 
the  recipient  of  many  confidences  I  would  have 
got  in  no  other  way.  That  is,  in  no  other  way 
save  one,  and  in  that  I  had  no  desire  to  go, 
even  had  it  been  possible.  Miss  Trevor  was  only 
nineteen,  and  in  her  eyes  I  was  at  least  sixty. 

"  See  here,  Miss  Trevor,"  I  said  to  her  one 
day  after  we  had  become  more  or  less  intimate, 
"of  course  it's  none  of  my  business,  but  you 
didn't  feel  very  badly  after  the  Celebrity  wen\ 
away,  did  you  ? " 

Her  reply  was  frank  and  rather  staggering. 


106  The  Celebrity 

"Yes,  I  did.  I  was  engaged  to  him,  you 
know." 

"  Engaged  to  him  !  I  had  no  idea  he  ever 
got  that  far,"  I  exclaimed. 

Miss  Trevor  laughed  merrily. 

"  It  was  my  fault,"  she  said ;  "  I  pinned  him 
down,  and  he  had  to  propose.  There  was  no 
way  out  of  it.  I  don't  mind  telling  you." 

I  did  not  know  whether  to  be  flattered  or 
aggrieved  by  this  avowal. 

"You  know,"  she  went  on,  her  tone  half 
apologetic,  "  the  day  after  he  came  he  told  me 
who  he  was,  and  I  wanted  to  stop  the  people 
we  passed  and  inform  them  of  the  lion  I  was 
walking  with.  And  I  was  quite  carried  away 
by  the  honor  of  his  attentions  :  any  girl  would 
have  been,  you  know." 

"  I  suppose  so,"  I  assented. 

"And  I  had  heard  and  read  so  much  of  him, 
and  I  doted  on  his  stories,  and  all  that.  His 
heroes  are  divine,  you  must  admit.  And,  Mr. 
Crocker,"  she  concluded  with  a  charming 
naivety,  "I  just  made  up  my  mind  I  would 
have  him." 

"Woman  proposes,  and  man  disposes,"  I 
laughed.  "He  escaped  in  spite  of  you." 


The  Celebrity  107 

She  looked  at  me  queerly. 

"Only  a  jest,"  I  said  hurriedly;  "your  escape 
is  the  one  to  be  thankful  for.  You  might  have 
married  him,  like  the  young  woman  in  The 
Sybarites.  You  remember,  do  you  not,  that 
the  hero  of  that  book  sacrifices  himself  for  the 
lady  who  adores  him,  but  whom  he  has  ceased 
to  adore  ? " 

"  Yes,  I  remember,"  she  laughed;  "I  believe 
I  know  that  book  by  heart." 

"Think  of  the  countless  girls  he  must  have 
relieved  of  their  affections  before  their  eyes 
were  opened,"  I  continued  with  mock  gravity. 
"Think  of  the  charred  trail  he  has  left  behind 
him.  A  man  of  that  sort  ought  to  be  put  under 
heavy  bonds  not  to  break  any  more  hearts. 
But  a  kleptomaniac  isn't  responsible,  you  under 
stand.  And  it  isn't  worth  while  to  bear  any 
malice." 

"  Oh,  I  don't  bear  any  malice  now,"  she  said. 
"  I  did  at  first,  naturally.  But  it  all  seems  very 
ridiculous  now  I  have  had  time  to  think  it  over. 
I  believe,  Mr.  Crocker,  that  I  never  really  cared 
for  him." 

"  Simply  an  idol  shattered  this  time,"  I  sug 
gested,  "  and  not  a  heart  broken." 


io8  The  Celebrity 

"Yes,  that's  it,"  said  she. 

"  I  am  glad  to  hear  it,"  said  I,  much  pleased 
that  she  had  taken  such  a  sensible  view.  "  But 
you  are  engaged  to  him." 

"I  was." 

"You  have  broken  the  engagement,  then  ?" 

"  No,  I  haven't,"  she  said. 

"Then  he  has  broken  it  ?" 

She  did  not  appear  to  resent  this  catechism. 

"That's  the  strange  part  of  it,"  said  Miss 
Trevor,  "he  hasn't  even  thought  it  necessary." 

"It  is  clear,  then,  that  you  are  still  engaged 
to  him,"  said  I,  smiling  at  her  blank  face. 

"  I  suppose  I  am,"  she  cried.  "  Isn't  it  awful  ? 
What  shall  I  do,  Mr.  Crocker  ?  You  are  so 
sensible,  and  have  had  so  much  experience." 

"I  beg  your  pardon,"  I  remarked  grimly. 

"  Oh,  you  know  what  I  mean  :  not  that  kind 
of  experience,  of  course.  But  breach  of  promise 
cases  and  that  sort  of  thing.  I  have  a  photo 
graph  of  him  with  something  written  over  it." 

"  Something  compromising  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"Yes,  you  would  probably  call  it  so,"  she 
answered,  reddening.  "But  there  is  no  need 
of  my  repeating  it.  And  then  I  have  a  lot  of 
other  things.  If  I  write  to  break  off  the  en- 


The  Celebrity  109 

gagement  I  shall  lose  dignity,  and  it  will  appear 
as  though  I  had  regrets.  I  don't  wish  him  to 
think  that,  of  all  things.  What  shall  I  do?" 

"  Do  nothing,"  I  said. 

"  What  do  you  mean  ? " 

"Just  that.  Do  not  break  the  engagement, 
and  keep  the  photograph  and  other  articles  for 
evidence.  If  he  makes  any  overtures,  don't 
consider  them  for  an  instant.  And  I  think, 
Miss  Trevor,  you  will  succeed  sooner  or  later 
in  making  him  very  uncomfortable.  Were  he 
any  one  else  I  shouldn't  advise  such  a  course, 
but  you  won't  lose  any  dignity  and  self-respect 
by  it,  as  no  one  will  be  likely  to  hear  of  it. 
He  can't  be  taken  seriously,  and  plainly  he  has 
never  taken  any  one  else  so.  He  hasn't  even 
gone  to  the  trouble  to  notify  you  that  he  does 
not  intend  marrying  you." 

I  saw  from  her  expression  that  my  suggestion 
was  favorably  entertained. 

"What  a  joke  it  would  be!"  she  cried  de 
lightedly. 

"And  a  decided  act  of  charity,"  I  added,  "to 
the  next  young  woman  on  his  list." 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  humor  of  my  proposition  appealed  more 
strongly  to  Miss  Trevor  than  I  had  looked  for, 
and  from  that  time  forward  she  became  her 
old  self  again  ;  for,  even  after  she  had  conquered 
her  love  for  the  Celebrity,  the  mortification  of 
having  been  jilted  by  him  remained.  Now  she 
had  come  to  look  upon  the  matter  in  its  true 
proportions,  and  her  anticipation  of  a  possible 
chance  of  teaching  him  a  lesson  was  a  pleasure 
to  behold.  Our  table  in  the  dining-room  be 
came  again  the  abode  of  scintillating  wit  and 
caustic  repartee,  Farrar  bracing  up  to  his  old 
standard,  and  the  demand  for  seats  in  the 
vicinity  rose  to  an  animated  competition.  Mr. 
Charles  Wrexell  Allen's  chair  was  finally  awarded 
to  a  nephew  of  Judge  Short,  who  could  turn  a 
story  to  perfection. 

So  life  at  the  inn  settled  down  again  to  what 
it  had  been  before  the  Celebrity  came  to  dis 
turb  it. 

I  had  my  own  reasons  for  staying  away  from 
Mohair.  More  than  once  as  I  drove  over  to 
no 


The  Celebrity  ill 

the  county-seat  in  my  buggy  I  had  met  the 
Celebrity  on  a  tall  tandem  cart,  with  one  of 
Mr.  Cooke's  high-steppers  in  the  lead,  and  Miss 
Thorn  in  the  low  seat.  I  had  forgotten  to 
mention  that  my  friend  was  something  of  a 
whip.  At  such  times  I  would  bow  very  civilly 
and  pass  on  ;  not  without  a  twinge,  I  confess. 
And  as  the  result  of  one  of  these  meetings  I 
had  to  retrace  several  miles  of  my  road  for  a 
brief  I  had  forgotten.  After  that  I  took  another 
road,  several  miles  longer,  for  the  sight  of  Miss 
Thorn  with  him  seriously  disturbed  my  peace 
of  mind. 

But  at  length  the  day  came,  as  I  had  feared, 
when  circumstances  forced  me  to  go  to  my 
client's  place.  One  morning  Miss  Trevor  and 
I  were  about  stepping  into  the  canoe  for  our 
customary  excursion  when  one  of  Mr.  Cooke's 
footmen  arrived  with  a  note  for  each  of  us. 
They  were  from  Mrs.  Cooke,  and  requested 
the  pleasure  of  our  company  that  day  for 
luncbeon. 

"  If  you  were  I,  would  you  go  ? "  Miss  Trevor 
asked  doubtfully. 

"Of  course,"  I  replied. 

"  But  the  consequences  may  be  unpleasant." 


112  The  Celebrity 

"Don't  let  them,". I  said.  "Of  what  use  is 
tact  to  a  woman  if  not  for  just  such  occasions  ?  " 

My  invitation  had  this  characteristic  note 
tacked  on  the  end  of  it : 

"  DEAR  CROCKER  :  Where  are  you  ?  Where 
is  the  judge  ?  F.  F.  C." 

I  corralled  the  judge,  and  we  started  off  across 
the  fields,  in  no  very  mild  state  of  fear  of  that 
gentleman's  wife,  whose  vigilance  was  seldom 
relaxed.  And  thus  we  came  by  a  circuitous 
route  to  Mohair,  the  judge  occupied  by  his  own 
guilty  thoughts,  and  I  by  others  not  less  dis 
turbing.  My  client  welcomed  the  judge  with 
that  warmth  of  manner  which  grappled  so  many 
of  his  friends  to  his  heart,  and  they  disappeared 
together  into  the  Ethiopian  card-room,  which 
was  filled  with  the  assegais  and  exclamation- 
point  shields  Mr.  Cooke  had  had  made  at  the 
Sawmill  at  Beaverton. 

I  learned  from  one  of  the  lords-in-waiting 
loafing  about  the  hall  that  Mrs.  Cooke  was  out 
on  the  golf  links,  chaperoning  some  of  the 
Asquith  young  women  whose  mothers  had  not 
seen  fit  to  ostracize  Mohair.  Mr.  Cooke's  ten 
friends  were  with  them.  But  this  discreet  and 


The  Celebrity  113 

dignified   servant  could  not    reveal  the  where- 

O 

abouts  of  Miss  Thorn  and  of  Mr.  Allen,  both 
of  whom  I  was  decidedly  anxious  to  avoid.  I 
was  much  disgusted,  therefore,  to  come  upon 
the  Celebrity  in  the  smoking-room,  writing 
rapidly,  with  sheets  of  manuscript  piled  beside 
him.  And  he  was  quite  good-natured  over  my 
intrusion. 

"No,"  said  he,  "don't  go.  It's  only  a  short 
story  I  promised  for  a  Christmas  number.  They 
offered  me  fifteen  cents  a  word  and  promised  to 
put  my  name  on  the  cover  in  red,  so  I  couldn't 
very  well  refuse.  It's  no  inspiration,  though,  I 
tell  you  that."  He  rose  and  pressed  a  bell 
behind  him  and  ordered  whiskeys  and  ginger 
ales,  as  if  he  were  in  a  hotel.  "  Sit  down, 
Crocker,"  he  said,  waving  me  to  a  morocco 
chair.  "Why  don't  you  come  over  to  see  us 
oftener  ? " 

"  I've  been  quite  busy,"  I  said. 

This  remark  seemed  to  please  him  immensely. 

"  What  a  sly  old  chap  you  are,"  said  he ; 
"  really,  I  shall  have  to  go  back  to  the  inn  and 
watch  you." 

"  What    the    deuce    do   you   mean  ? "    I    de 
manded. 
i 


H4  The  Celebrity 

He  looked  me  over  in  well-bred  astonishment 
and  replied  : 

"  Hang  me,  Crocker,  if  I  can  make  you  out. 
You  seem  to  know  the  world  pretty  well,  and 
yet  when  a  fellow  twits  you  on  a  little  flirtation 
you  act  as  though  you  were  going  to  black  his 
eyes." 

"  A  little  flirtation  !  "  I  repeated,  aghast. 

"Oh,  well,"  he  said,  smiling,  "we  won't  quar 
rel  over  a  definition.  Call  it  anything  you 
like." 

"  Don't  you  think  this  a  little  uncalled  for  ? " 
I  asked,  beginning  to  lose  my  temper. 

"  Bless  you,  no.  Not  among  friends  :  not 
among  such  friends  as  we  are." 

"I  didn't  know  we  were  such  devilish  good 
friends,"  I  retorted  warmly. 

"  Oh,  yes,  we  are,  devilish  good  friends,"  he 
answered  with  assurance  ;  "  known  each  other 
from  boyhood,  and  all  that.  And  I  say,  old 
chap,"  he  added,  "you  needn't  be  jealous  of  me, 
you  know.  I  got  out  of  that  long  ago.  And 
I'm  after  something  else  now." 

For  a  space  I  was  speechless.  Then  the 
ludicrous  side  of  the  matter  struck  me,  and  I 
laughed  in  spite  of  myself.  Better,  after  all,  to 


The  Celebrity  115 

deal  with  a  fool  according  to  his  folly.  The 
Celebrity  glanced  at  the  door  and  drew  his  chair 
closer  to  mine. 

"  Crocker,"  he  said  confidentially,  "  I'm  glad 
you  came  here  to-day.  There  is  a  thing  or  two 
I  wished  to  consult  you  about." 

"Professional?"  I  asked,  trying  to  head  him 
off. 

"No,"  he  replied,  "amateur,  —  beastly  ama 
teur.  A  bungle,  if  I  ever  made  one.  The  truth 
is,  I  executed  rather  a  faux  pas  over  there  at 
Asquith.  Tell  me,"  said  he,  diving  desperately 
at  the  root  of  it,  "how  does  Miss  Trevor  feel 
about  my  getting  out  ?  I  meant  to  let  her  down 
easier;  'pon  my  word,  I  did." 

This  is  a  way  rascals  have  of  judging  other 
men  by  themselves. 

"Well,"  said  I,  "it  was  rather  a  blow,  of 
course." 

"  Of  course,"  he  assented. 

"  And  all  the  more  unexpected,"  I  went  on, 
"from  a  man  who  has  written  reams  on  con 
stancy." 

I  flatter  myself  that  this  nearly  struck  home, 
for  he  was  plainly  annoyed. 

"Oh,  bother  that!"  said  he.     "How   many 


Ii6  The  Celebrity 

gowns  believe  in  their  own  sermons  ?  How 
many  lawyers  believe  in  their  own  arguments  ? " 

"Unhappily,  not  as  many  as  might." 

"I  don't  object  to  telling  you,  old  chap,"  he 
continued,  "that  I  went  in  a  little  deeper  than 
I  intended.  A  good  deal  deeper,  in  fact.  Miss 
Trevor  is  a  deuced  fine  girl,  and  all  that ;  but 
absolutely  impossible.  I  forgot  myself,  and  I 
confess  I  was  pretty  close  to  caught." 

"I  congratulate  you,"  I  said  gravely. 

"That's  the  point  of  it.  I  don't  know  that 
I'm  out  of  the  woods  yet.  I  wanted  to  see  you 
and  find  out  how  she  was  acting." 

My  first  impulse  was  to  keep  him  in  hot 
water.  Fortunately  I  thought  twice. 

"  I  don't  know  anything  about  Miss  Trevor's 
feelings  —  "  I  began. 

"  Naturally  not  — "  he  interrupted,  with  a  smile. 

"  But  I  have  a  notion  that,  if  she  ever  fancied 
you,  she  doesn't  care  a  straw  for  you  to-day." 

"  Doesn't  she  now,"  he  replied  somewhat 
regretfully.  Here  was  one  of  the  knots  in  his 
character  I  never  could  untie. 

"Understand,  that  is  simply  my  guess,"  I 
said.  "You  must  have  discovered  that  it  is 
never  possible  to  be  sure  of  a  woman's  feelings." 


The  Celebrity  117 

"Found  that  out  long  ago,"  he  replied  with 
conviction,  and  added  :  "Then  you  think  I  need 
not  anticipate  any  trouble  from  her?" 

"  I  have  told  you  what  I  think,"  I  answered ; 
"you  know  better  than  I  what  the  situation 
is." 

He  still  lingered. 

"  Does  she  appear  to  be  in,  —  ah,  —  in  good 
spirits  ? " 

I  had  work  to  keep  my  face  straight. 

" Capital,"  I  said;  "  I  never  saw  her  happier." 

This  seemed  to  satisfy  him. 

"  Downcast  at  first,  happy  now,"  he  remarked 
thoughtfully.  "Yes,  she  got  over  it.  I'm  much 
obliged  to  you,  Crocker." 

I  left  him  to  finish  his  short  story  and  walked 
out  across  the  circle  of  smooth  lawn  towards  the 
golf  links.  And  there  I  met  Mrs.  Cooke  and 
her  niece  coming  in  together.  The  warm  red 
of  her  costume  became  Miss  Thorn  wonderfully, 
and  set  off  the  glossy  black  of  her  hair.  And 
her  skin  was  glowing  from  the  exercise.  An 
involuntary  feeling  of  admiration  for  this  tall, 
athletic  young  woman  swept  over  me,  and  I 
halted  in  my  steps  for  no  other  reason,  I  believe, 
than  that  I  might  look  upon  her  the  longer, 


Ii8  The  Celebrity 

What  man,  I  thought  resentfully,  would  not 
travel  a  thousand  miles  to  be  near  her? 

"  It  is  Mr.  Crocker,"  said  Mrs.  Cooke  ;  "  I  had 
given  up  all  hope  of  ever  seeing  you  again. 
Why  have  you  been  such  a  stranger?" 

"  As  if  you  didn't  know,  Aunt  Maria,"  Miss 
Thorn  put  in  gayly. 

"  Oh  yes,  I  know,"  returned  her  aunt, 
"and  I  have  not  been  foolish  enough  to  in 
vite  the  bar  without  the  magnet.  And  yet, 
Mr.  Crocker,"  she  went  on  playfully,  "I  had 
imagined  that  you  were  the  one  man  in  a  hun 
dred  who  did  not  need  an  inducement." 

Miss  Thorn  began  digging  up  the  turf  with 
her  lofter :  it  was  a  painful  moment  for  me. 

"You  might  at  least  have  tried  me,  Mrs. 
Cooke,"  I  said. 

Miss  Thorn  looked  up  quickly  from  the 
ground,  her  eyes  searchingly  upon  my  face. 
And  Mrs.  Cooke  seemed  surprised. 

"We  are  glad  you  came,  at  any  rate,"  she 
answered. 

And  at  luncheon  my  seat  was  next  to  Miss 
Thorn's,  while  the  Celebrity  was  placed  at  the 
right  of  Miss  Trevor.  I  observed  that  his  face 
went  blank  from  time  to  time  at  some  quip  of 


The  Celebrity  119 

hers  :  even  a  dull  woman  may  be  sharp  under 
such  circumstances,  and  Miss  Trevor  had  wits 
to  spare.  And  I  marked  that  she  never  allowed 
her  talk  with  him  to  drift  into  deep  water  ;  when 
there  was  danger  of  this  she  would  draw  the 
entire  table  into  their  conversation  by  some 
adroit  remark,  or  create  a  laugh  at  his  expense. 
As  for  me,  I  held  a  discreet  if  uncomfortable 
silence,  save  for  the  few  words  which  passed 
between  Miss  Thorn  and  me.  Once  or  twice 
I  caught  her  covert  glance  on  me.  But  I  felt, 
and  strongly,  that  there  could  be  no  friendship 
between  us  now,  and  I  did  not  care  to  dissimu 
late  merely  for  the  sake  of  appearances.  Be 
sides,  I  was  not  a  little  put  out  over  the  senseless 
piece  of  gossip  which  had  gone  abroad  concern 
ing  me. 

It  had  been  arranged  as  part  of  the  day's 
programme  that  Mr.  Cooke  was  to  drive  those 
who  wished  to  go  over  the  Rise  in  his  new 
brake.  But  the  table  was  not  graced  by  our 
host's  presence,  Mrs.  Cooke  apologizing  for 
him,  explaining  that  he  had  disappeared  quite 
mysteriously.  It  turned  out  .that  he  and  the 
judge  had  been  served  with  luncheon  in  the 
Ethiopian  card-room,  and  neither  threats  nor 


120  The  Celebrity 

fair  words  could  draw  him  away.  The  judge 
had  not  held  such  cards  for  years,  and  it  was  in 
vain  that  I  talked  to  him  of  consequences.  The 
Ten  decided  to  remain  and  watch  a  game  which 
was  pronounced  little  short  of  phenomenal,  and 
my  client  gave  orders  for  the  smaller  brake  and 
requested  the  Celebrity  to  drive.  And  this  he 
was  nothing  loth  to  do.  For  the  edification  as 
well  as  the  assurance  of  the  party  Mr.  Allen  ex 
plained,  while  we  were  waiting  under  the  port 
cochere,  how  he  had  driven  the  Windsor  coach 
down  Piccadilly  at  the  height  of  the  season,  with 
a  certain  member  of  Parliament  and  noted  whip 
on  the  box  seat. 

And,  to  do  him  justice,  he  could  drive.  He 
won  the  instant  respect  of  Mr.  Cooke's  coach 
man  by  his  manner  of  taking  up  the  lines,  and 
clinched  it  when  he  dropped  a  careless  remark 
concerning  the  off  wheeler.  And  after  the 
critical  inspection  of  the  horses  which  is  proper 
he  climbed  up  on  the  box.  There  was  much 
hesitation  among  the  ladies  as  to  who  should 
take  the  seat  of  honor :  Mrs.  Cooke  declining,  it 
was  pressed  upon  Miss  Thorn.  But  she,  some 
what  to  my  surprise,  declined  also,  and  it  was 
finally  filled  by  a  young  woman  from  Asquith. 


The  Celebrity  12 1 

As  we  drove  off  I  found  myself  alone  with  Mrs. 
Cooke's  niece  on  the  seat  behind. 

The  day  was  cool  and  snappy  for  August,  and 
the  Rise  all  green  with  a  lavish  nature.  Now 
we  plunged  into  a  deep  shade  with  the  boughs 
lacing  each  other  overhead,  and  crossed  dainty, 
rustic  bridges  over  the  cold  trout-streams,  the 
boards  giving  back  the  clatter  of  our  horses' 
feet :  or  anon  we  shot  into  a  clearing,  with  a 
colored  glimpse  of  the  lake  and  its  curving  shore 
far  below  us.  I  had  always  loved  that  piece  of 
country  since  the  first  look  I  had  of  it  from  the 
Asquith  road,  and  the  sight  of  it  rarely  failed  to 
set  my  blood  a-tingle  with  pleasure.  But  to-day 
I  scarcely  saw  it.  I  wondered  what  whim  had 
impelled  Miss  Thorn  to  get  into  this  seat.  She 
paid  but  little  attention  to  me  during  the  first 
part  of  the  drive,  though  a  mere  look  in  my  di 
rection  seemed  to  afford  her  amusement.  And 
at  last,  half  way  up  the  Rise,  where  the  road 
takes  to  an  embankment,  I  got  a  decided  jar. 

"Mr.  Allen,"  she  cried  to  the  Celebrity,  "you 
must  stop  here.  Do  you  remember  how  long 
we  tarried  over  this  bit  on  Friday? " 

He  tightened  the  lines  and  threw  a  meaning 
glance  backward. 


122  The  Celebrity 

I  was  tempted  to  say  : 

"  You  and  Mr.  Allen  should  know  these  roads 
rather  well,  Miss  Thorn." 

"  Every  inch  of  them,"  she  replied. 

We  must  have  gone  a  mile  farther  when  she 
turned  upon  me. 

"It  is  your  duty  to  be  entertaining,  Mr. 
Crocker.  What  in  the  world  are  you  thinking 
of,  with  your  brow  all  puckered  up,  forbidding  as 
an  owl  ?" 

"  I  was  thinking  how  some  people  change," 
I  answered,  with  a  readiness  which  surprised 
me. 

"  Strange,"  she  said,  "  I  had  the  same  thing 
in  mind.  I  hear  decidedly  queer  tales  of  you ; 
canoeing  every  day  that  business  does  not  pre 
vent,  and  whole  evenings  spent  at  the  dark  end 
of  a  veranda." 

"What  rubbish!"  I  exclaimed,  not  knowing 
whether  to  be  angered  or  amused. 

"  Come,  sir,"  she  said,  with  mock  sternness, 
"answer  the  charge.  Guilty  or  not  guilty  ?  " 

"  First  let  me  make  a  counter-charge,"  said  I ; 
"you  have  given  me  the  right.  Not  long  ago  a 
certain  young  lady  came  to  Mohair  and  found 
there  a  young  author  of  note  with  whom  she 


The  Celebrity  123 

had  had  some  previous  acquaintance.  She  did 
not  hesitate  to  intimate  her  views  on  the  char 
acter  of  this  Celebrity,  and  her  views  were  not 
favorable." 

I  paused.  There  was  some  satisfaction  in 
seeing  Miss  Thorn  biting  her  lip. 

"  Well  ? " 

"  Not  at  all  favorable,  mind  you,"  I  went  on. 
"  And  the  young  lady's  general  appearance  was 
such  as  to  lead  one  to  suppose  her  the  sincerest 
of  persons.  Now  I  am  at  a  loss  to  account  for 
a  discrepancy  between  her  words  and  her 
actions." 

While  I  talked  Miss  Thorn's  face  had  been 
gradually  turning  from  mine  until  now  I  saw 
only  the  dainty  knot  at  the  back  of  her  head. 
Her  shoulders  were  quivering  with  laughter. 
But  presently  her  face  came  back  all  gravity, 
save  a  suspicious  gleam  of  mirth  in  the  eyes. 

"It  does  seem  inconsistent,  Mr.  Crocker;  I 
grant  you  that.  No  doubt  it  is  so.  But  let  me 
ask  you  something :  did  you  ever  yet  know  a 
woman  who  was  not  inconsistent  ? " 

I  did  not  realize  I  had  been  side-tracked  until 
I  came  to  think  over  this  conversation  after 
wards. 


124  The  Celebrity 

"I  am  not  sure,"  I  replied.  "Perhaps  I 
merely  hoped  that  one  such  existed." 

She  dropped  her  eyes. 

"  Then  don't  be  surprised  at  my  failing,"  said 
she.  "No  doubt  I  criticised  the  Celebrity 
severely.  I  cannot  recall  what  I  said.  But  it 
is  upon  the  better  side  of  a  character  that  we 
must  learn  to  look.  Did  it  ever  strike  you  that 
the  Celebrity  had  some  exceedingly  fine  quali 
ties  ? " 

"  No,  it  did  not,"  I  answered  positively. 

"  Nevertheless,  he  has,"  she  went  on,  in  all 
apparent  seriousness.  "  He  drives  almost  as 
well  as  Uncle  Farquhar,  dances  well,  and  is  a 
capital  paddle." 

"  You  were  speaking  of  qualities,  not  accom 
plishments,"  I  said.  A  horrible  suspicion  that 
she  was  having  a  little  fun  at  my  expense  crossed 
my  mind. 

"Very  good,  then.  You  must  admit  that  he 
is  generous  to  a  fault,  amiable  ;  and  persevering, 
else  he  would  never  have  attained  the  position 
he  enjoys.  And  his  affection  for  you,  Mr. 
Crocker,  is  really  touching,  considering  how 
little  he  gets  in  return." 

"Come,  Miss  Thorn,"  I  said  severely,  "this 


The  Celebrity  125 

is  ridiculous.  I  don't  like  him,  and  never  shall. 
I  liked  him  once,  before  he  took  to  writing 
drivel.  But  he  must  have  been  made  over 
since  then.  And  what  is  more,  with  all  re 
spect  to  your  opinion,  I  don't  believe  he  likes 
me." 

Miss  Thorn  straightened  up  with  dignity  and 
said: 

"You  do  him  an  injustice.  But  perhaps  you 
will  learn  to  appreciate  him  before  he  leaves 
Mohair." 

"That  is  not  likely,"  I  replied  — not  at  all 
pleasantly,  I  fear.  And  again  I  thought  I  ob 
served  in  her  the  same  desire  to  laugh  she  had 
before  exhibited. 

And  all  the  way  back  her  talk  was  of  nothing 
except  the  Celebrity.  I  tried  every  method 
short  of  absolute  rudeness  to  change  the  sub 
ject,  and  went  from  silence  to  taciturnity  and 
back  again  to  silence.  She  discussed  his  books 
and  his  mannerisms,  even  the  growth  of  his 
popularity.  She  repeated  anecdotes  of  him  from 
Naples  to  St.  Petersburg,  from  Tokio  to  Cape 
Town.  And  when  we  finally  stopped  under  the 
port  coMre  I  had  scarcely  the  civility  left  to  say 
good-bye. 


126  The  Celebrity 

I  held  out  my  hand  to  help  her  to  the  ground, 
but  she  paused  on  the  second  step. 

"Mr.  Crocker,"  she  observed  archly,  " I  be 
lieve  you  once  told  me  you  had  not  known  many 
girls  in  your  life." 

"  True,"  I  said  ;  "  why  do  you  ask  ?  " 

"  I  wished  to  be  sure  of  it,"  she  replied. 

And  jumping  down  without  my  assistance, 
she  laughed  and  disappeared  into  the  house. 


CHAPTER    IX 

THAT  evening  I  lighted  a  cigar  and  went 
down  to  sit  on  the  outermost  pile  of  the 
Asquith  dock  to  commune  with  myself.  To 
say  that  I  was  disappointed  in  Miss  Thorn 
would  be  to  set  a  mild  value  on  my  feelings. 
I  was  angry,  even  aggressive,  over  her  defence 
of  the  Celebrity.  I  had  gone  over  to  Mohair 
that  day  with  a  hope  that  some  good  reason 
was  at  the  bottom  of  her  tolerance  for  him,  and 
had  come  back  without  any  hope.  She  not  only 
tolerated  him,  but,  wonderful  to  be  said,  plainly 
liked  him.  Had  she  not  praised  him,  and  de 
fended  him,  and  become  indignant  when  I  spoke 
my  mind  about  him  ?  And  I  would  have  taken 
my  oath,  two  weeks  before,  that  nothing  short 
of  hypnotic  influence  could  have  changed  her. 
By  her  own  confession  she  had  come  to  Asquith 
with  her  eyes  opened,  and,  what  was  more,  seen 
another  girl  wrecked  on  the  same  reef. 

Farrar  followed  me  out  presently,  and  I  had 
an  impulse  to  submit  the  problem  as  it  stood 
to  him.  But  it  was  a  long  story,  and  I  did 
127 


128  The  Celebrity 

not  believe  that  if  he  were  in  my  boots  he 
would  have  consulted  me.  Again,  I  sometimes 
thought  Farrar  yearned  for  confidences,  though 
it  was  impossible  for  him  to  confide.  And  he 
wore  an  inviting  air  to-night.  Then,  as  every 
body  knows,  there  is  that  about  twilight  and  an 
after-dinner  cigar  which  leads  to  communica 
tion.  They  are  excellent  solvents.  My  friend 
seated  himself  on  the  pile  next  to  mine,  and 
said,  — 

"  It  strikes  me  you  have  been  behaving  rather 
queer  lately,  Crocker." 

This  was  clearly  an  invitation  from  Farrar, 
and  I  melted. 

"I  admit,"  said  I,  "that  I  am  a  good  deal 
perplexed  over  the  contradictions  of  the  human 
mind." 

"  Oh,  is  that  all  ? "  he  replied  dryly.  "  I  sup 
posed  it  was  worse.  Narrower,  I  mean.  Didn't 
know  you  ever  bothered  yourself  with  abstract 
philosophy." 

"See  here,  Farrar,"  said  I,  "what  is  your 
opinion  of  Miss  Thorn  ? " 

He  stopped  kicking  his  feet  against  the  pile 
and  looked  up. 

"Miss  Thorn?" 


The  Celebrity  129 

"  Yes,  Miss  Thorn,"  I  repeated  with  empha 
sis.  I  knew  he  had  in  mind  that  abominable 
twaddle  about  the  canoe  excursions. 

"Why,  to  tell  the  truth,"  said  he,  "I  never 
had  any  opinion  of  Miss  Thorn." 

"You  mean  you  never  formed  any,  I  sup 
pose,"  I  returned  with  some  tartness. 

"Yes,  that  is  it.  How  darned  precise  you 
are  getting,  Crocker !  One  would  think  you 
were  going  to  write  a  rhetoric.  What  put 
Miss  Thorn  into  your  head  ? " 

"  I  have  been  coaching  beside  her  this  after 
noon." 

"  Oh  !  "  said  Farrar. 

"Do  you  remember  the  night  she  came," 
I  asked,  "and  we  sat  with  her  on  the  Flor 
entine  porch,  and  Charles  Wrexell  recognized 
her  and  came  up?" 

"Yes,"  he  replied  with  awakened  interest, 
"and  I  meant  to  ask  you  about  that." 

"  Miss  Thorn  had  met  him  in  the  East.  And 
I  gathered  from  what  she  told  me  that  he  has 
followed  her  out  here." 

"Shouldn't  wonder,"  said  Farrar.  "Don't 
much  blame  him,  do  you  ?  Is  that  what 
troubles  you  ? "  he  asked,  in  surprise. 


130  The  Celebrity 

"Not  precisely,"  I  answered  vaguely;  "but 
from  what  she  has  said  then  and  since,  she 
made  it  pretty  clear  that  she  hadn't  any  use 
for  him  ;  saw  through  him,  you  know." 

"Pity  her  if  she  didn't.  But  what  did  she 
say  ? " 

I  repeated  the  conversations  I  had  had  with 
Miss  Thorn,  without  revealing  Mr.  Allen's  iden 
tity  with  the  celebrated  author. 

"That  is  rather  severe,"  he  assented. 

"  He  decamped  for  Mohair,  as  you  know, 
and  since  that  time  she  has  gone  back  on 
every  word  of  it.  She  is  with  him  morning 
and  evening,  and,  to  crown  all,  stood  up  for 
him  through  thick  and  thin  to-day,  and  praised 
him.  What  do  you  think  of  that  ? " 

"  What  I  should  have  expected  in  a  woman," 
said  he,  nonchalantly. 

"They  aren't  all  alike,"  I  retorted. 

He  shook  out  his  pipe,  and  getting  down 
from  his  high  seat  laid  his  hand  on  my  knee. 

"  I  thought  so  once,  old  fellow,"  he  whis 
pered,  and  went  off  down  the  dock. 

This  was  the  nearest  Farrar  ever  came  to 
a  confidence. 

I  have  now  to  chronicle  a  curious  friendship 


The  Celebrity  131 

which  had  its  beginning  at  this  time.  The 
friendships  of  the  other  sex  are  quickly  made, 
and  sometimes  as  quickly  dissolved.  This  one 
interested  me  more  than  I  care  to  own.  The 
next  morning  Judge  Short,  looking  somewhat 
dejected  after  the  overnight  conference  he  had 
had  with  his  wife,  was  innocently  and  somewhat 
ostentatiously  engaged  in  tossing  quoits  with 
me  in  front  of  the  inn,  when  Miss  Thorn  drove 
up  in  a  basket  cart.  She  gave  me  a  bow  which 
proved  that  she  bore  no  ill-will  for  that  which 
I  had  said  about  her  hero.  Then  Miss  Trevor 
appeared,  and  away  they  went  together.  This 
was  the  commencement.  Soon  the  acquaintance 
became  an  intimacy,  and  their  lives  a  series  of 
visits  to  each  other.  Although  this  new  state 
of  affairs  did  not  seem  to  decrease  the  number 
of  Miss  Thorn's  tete-a-tetes  with  the  Celebrity, 
it  put  a  stop  to  the  canoe  expeditions  I  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  taking  with  Miss  Trevor, 
which  I  thought  just  as  well  under  the  circum 
stances.  More  than  once  Miss  Thorn  partook 
of  the  inn  fare  at  our  table,  and  when  this  hap 
pened  I  would  make  my  escape  before  the  coffee. 
For  such  was  the  nature  of  my  feelings  regard 
ing  the  Celebrity  that  I  could  not  bring  myself 


132  The  Celebrity 

into  cordial  relations  with  one  who  professed 
to  admire  him.  I  realize  how  ridiculous  such 
a  sentiment  must  appear,  but  it  existed  never 
theless,  and  most  strongly. 

I  tried  hard  to  throw  Miss  Thorn  out  of  my 
thoughts,  and  very  nearly  succeeded.  I  took 
to  spending  more  and  more  of  my  time  at  the 
county-seat,  where  I  remained  for  days  at  a 
stretch,  inventing  business  when  there  was 
none.  And  in  the  meanwhile  I  lost  all  re 
spect  for  myself  as  a  sensible  man,  and  cursed 
the  day  the  Celebrity  came  into  the  state.  It 
seemed  strange  that  this  acquaintance  of  my 
early  days  should  have  come  back  into  my  life, 
transformed,  to  make  it  more  or  less  miserable. 

The  county-seat  being  several  miles  inland, 
and  lying  in  the  midst  of  hills,  could  get  intol 
erably  hot  in  September.  At  last  I  was  driven 
out  in  spite  of  myself,  and  I  arrived  at  Asquith 
cross  and  dusty.  As  Simpson  was  brushing  me 
off,  Miss  Trevor  came  up  the  path  looking  cool 
and  pretty  in  a  summer  gown,  and  her  face 
expressed  sympathy.  I  have  never  denied  that 
sympathy  was  a  good  thing. 

"  Oh,  Mr.  Crocker,"  she  cried,  "  I  am  so  glad 
you  are  back  again !  We  have  missed  you 


The  Celebrity  133 

dreadfully.  And  you  look  tired,  poor  man, 
quite  worn  out.  It  is  a  shame  you  have  to 
go  over  to  that  hot  place  to  work." 

I  agreed  with  her. 

"And  I  never  have  any  one  to  take  me  canoe 
ing  any  more." 

"  Let's  go  now,"  I  suggested,  "  before  dinner." 

So  we  went.  It  was  a  keen  pleasure  to  be 
on  the  lake  again  after  the  sultry  court-rooms 
and  offices,  and  the  wind  and  exercise  quickly 
brought  back  my  appetite  and  spirits.  I  pad 
dled  hither  and  thither,  stopping  now  and  then 
to  lie  under  the  pines  at  the  mouth  of  some 
stream,  while  Miss  Trevor  talked.  She  was 
almost  a  child  in  her  eagerness  to  amuse  me 
with  the  happenings  since  my  departure.  This 
was  always  her  manner  with  me,  in  curious 
contrast  to  her  habit  of  fencing  and  playing 
with  words  when  in  company.  Presently  she 
burst  out : 

"Mr.  Crocker,  why  is  it  that  you  avoid  Miss 
Thorn  ?  I  was  talking  of  you  to  her  only 
to-day,  and  she  says  you  go  miles  out  of  your 
way  to  get  out  of  speaking  to  her ;  that  you 
seemed  to  like  her  quite  well  at  first.  She 
couldn't  understand  the  change," 


134  The  Celebrity 

"Did  she  say  that  ?"  I  exclaimed. 

"  Indeed,  she  did ;  and  I  have  noticed  it,  too. 
I  saw  you  leave  before  coffee  more  than  once 
when  she  was  here.  I  don't  believe  you  know 
what  a  fine  girl  she  is." 

"Why,  then,  does  she  accept  and  return  the 
attentions  of  the  Celebrity  ? "  I  inquired,  with 
a  touch  of  acidity.  "  She  knows  what  he  is  as 
well,  if  not  better,  than  you  or  I.  I  own  I  can't 
understand  it,"  I  said,  the  subject  getting  ahead 
of  me.  "I  believe  she  is  in  love  with  him." 

Miss  Trevor  began  to  laugh ;  quietly  at  first, 
and,  as  her  merriment  increased,  heartily. 

"  Shouldn't  we  be  getting  back  ? "  I  asked, 
looking  at  my  watch.  "It  lacks  but  half  an 
hour  of  dinner." 

"Please  don't  be  angry,  Mr.  Crocker,"  she 
pleaded.  "  I  really  couldn't  help  laughing." 

"  I  was  unaware  I  had  said  anything  funny, 
Miss  Trevor,"  I  replied. 

"  Of  course  you  didn't,"  she  said  more  so 
berly ;  "that  is,  you  didn't  intend  to.  But  the 
very  notion  of  Miss  Thorn  in  love  with  the 
Celebrity  is  funny." 

"  Evidence  is  stronger  than  argument,"  said 
"And  now  she  has  even  convicted  herself." 


The  Celebrity  135 

I  started  to  paddle  homeward,  rather  furi 
ously,  and  my  companion  said  nothing  until 
we  came  in  sight  of  the  inn.  As  the  canoe 
glided  into  the  smooth  surface  behind  the 
breakwater,  she  broke  the  silence. 

"  I  heard  you  went  fishing  the  other  day," 
said  she. 

"Yes." 

"And  the  judge  told  me  about  a  big  bass 
you  hooked,  and  how  you  played  him  longer 
than  was  necessary  for  the  mere  fun  of  the 
thing." 

"Yes." 

"Perhaps  you  will  find  in  the  feeling  that 
prompted  you  to  do  that  a  clue  to  the  char 
acter  of  our  sex." 


CHAPTER   X 

MR.  COOKE  had  had  a  sloop  yacht  built  at 
Far  Harbor,  the  completion  of  which  had  been 
delayed,  and  which  was  but  just  delivered.  She 
was  painted  white,  with  brass  fittings,  and  under 
her  stern,  in  big,  black  letters,  was  the  word 
Maria,  intended  as  a  surprise  and  delicate  con 
jugal  compliment  to  Mrs.  Cooke.  The  Maria 
had  a  cabin,  which  was  finished  in  hard  wood 
and  yellow  plush,  and  accommodations  for  keep 
ing  things  cold.  This  last  Mr.  Cooke  had  in 
sisted  upon. 

The  skipper  Mr.  Cooke  had  hired  at  Far 
Harbor  was  a  God-fearing  man  with  a  luke 
warm  interest  in  his  new  billet  and  employer, 
and  had  only  been  prevailed  upon  to  take  charge 
of  the  yacht  for  the  month  after  the  offer  of  an 
emolument  equal  to  half  a  year's  sea  pay  of  an 
ensign  in  the  navy.  His  son  and  helper  was 
to  receive  a  sum  proportionally  exorbitant. 
This  worthy  man  sighted  Mohair  on  a  Sunday 
morning,  and  at  nine  o'clock  dropped  his  anchor 
136 


The  Celebrity  137 

with  a  salute  which  caused  Mr.  Cooke  to  say 
unpleasant  things  in  his  sleep.  After  making 
things  ship-shape  and  hoisting  the  jack,  both 
father  and  son  rowed  ashore  to  the  little  church 
at  Asquith. 

Now  the  butler  at  Mohair  was  a  servant  who 
had  learned,  from  long  experience,  to  anticipate 
every  wish  and  whim  of  his  master,  and  from 
the  moment  he  descried  the  white  sails  of  the 
yacht  out  of  the  windows  of  the  butler's  pantry 
his  duty  was  clear  as  daylight.  Such  was  the 
comprehension  and  despatch  with  which  he  gave 
his  commands  that  the  captain  returned  from 
divine  worship  to  find  the  Maria  in  profane 
hands,  her  immaculate  deck  littered  with  straw 
and  sawdust,  and  covered  to  the  coamings  with 
bottles  and  cases.  This  decided  the  captain : 
he  packed  his  kit  in  high  dudgeon,  and  took 
the  first  train  back  to  Far  Harbor,  leaving  the 
yacht  to  her  fate. 

This  sudden  and  inconsiderate  departure  was 
a  severe  blow  to  Mr.  Cooke,  who  was  so  consti 
tuted  that  he  cared  but  little  about  anything 
until  there  was  danger  of  not  getting  it.  My 
client  had  planned  a  trip  to  Bear  Island  for  the 
following  Tuesday,  which  was  to  last  a  week, 


138  The  Celebrity 

the  party  to  bring  tents  with  them  and  rough 
it,  with  the  Maria  as  headquarters.  It  was  out 
of  the  question  to  send  to  Far  Harbor  for 
another  skipper,  if,  indeed,  one  could  be  found 
at  that  late  period.  And  as  luck  would  have  it, 
six  of  Mr.  Cooke's  ten  guests  had  left  but  a  day 
or  so  since,  and  among  them  had  been  the  only 
yacht-owner.  None  of  the  four  that  remained 
could  do  more  than  haul  aft  and  belay  a  sheet. 
But  the  Celebrity,  who  chanced  along  as  Mr. 
Cooke  was  ruefully  gazing  at  the  graceful  lines 
of  the  Maria  from  the  wharf  and  cursing  the 
fate  that  kept  him  ashore  with  a  stiff  wind  blow 
ing,  proposed  a  way  out  of  the  difficulty.  He, 
the  Celebrity,  would  gladly  sail  the  Maria  over 
to  Bear  Island  provided  another  man  could  be 
found  to  relieve  him  occasionally  at  the  wheel, 
and  the  like.  He  had  noticed  that  Farrar  was 
a  capable  hand  in  a  boat,  and  suggested  that  he 
be  sent  for. 

This  suggestion  Mr.  Cooke  thought  so  well 
of  that  he  hurried  over  to  Asquith  to  consult 
Farrar  at  once,  and  incidentally  to  consult  me. 
We  can  hardly  be  blamed  for  receiving  his  over 
tures  with  a  moderate  enthusiasm.  In  fact,  we 
were  of  one  mind  not  to  go  when  the  subject 


The  Celebrity  139 

was  first  broached.  But  my  client  had  a  per 
suasive  way  about  him  that  was  irresistible,  and 
the  mere  mention  of  the  favors  he  had  conferred 
upon  both  of  us  at  different  periods  of  our  lives 
was  sufficient.  We  consented. 

Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  Tuesday  morning 
found  the  party  assembled  on  the  wharf  at 
Mohair,  the  Four  and  the  Celebrity,  as  well  as 
Mr.  Cooke,  having  produced  yachting  suits  from 
their  inexhaustible  wardrobes.  Mr.  Trevor  and 
his  daughter,  Mrs.  Cooke  and  Miss  Thorn,  and 
Farrar  and  myself  completed  the  party.  We 
were  to  adhere  strictly  to  primeval  principles : 
the  ladies  were  not  permitted  a  maid,  while  the 
Celebrity  was  forced  to  leave  his  manservant, 
and  Mr.  Cooke  his  chef.  I  had,  however,  thrust 
into  my  pocket  the  Minneapolis  papers,  which 
had  been  handed  me  by  the  clerk  on  their  arri 
val  at  the  inn,  which  happened  just  as  I  was 
leaving.  Quod  bene  notandum! 

Thereby  hangs  a  tale  ! 

For  the  northern  lakes  the  day  was  rather 
dead  :  a  little  wind  lay  in  the  southeast,  scarcely 
enough  to  break  the  water,  with  the  sky  an  in 
tense  blue.  But  the  Maria  was  hardly  cast  and 
under  way  before  it  became  painfully  apparent 


140  The  Celebrity 

that  the  Celebrity  was  much  better  fitted  to 
lead  a  cotillon  than  to  sail  a  boat.  He  gave 
his  orders,  nevertheless,  in  a  firm,  seamanlike 
fashion,  though  with  no  great  pertinence,  and 
thus  managed  to  establish  the  confidence  of  Mr. 
Cooke.  Farrar,  after  setting  things  to  rights, 
joined  Mrs.  Cooke  and  me  over  the  cabin. 

"  How  about  hoisting  the  spinnaker,  mate  ? " 
the  Celebrity  shouted  after  him. 

Farrar  did  not  deign  to  answer :  his  eye  was 
on  the  wind.  And  the  boom,  which  had  been 
acting  uneasily,  finally  decided  to  gybe,  and 
swept  majestically  over,  carrying  two  of  the 
Four  in  front  of  it,  and  all  but  dropped  them 
into  the  water. 

"A  common  occurrence  in  a  light  breeze,'* 
we  heard  the  Celebrity  reassure  Mr.  Cooke 
and  Miss  Thorn. 

"  The  Maria  has  vindicated  her  sex,"  remarked 
Farrar. 

We  laughed. 

"Why  don't  you  sail,  Mr.  Farrar?"  asked 
Mrs.  Cooke. 

"  He  can't  do  any  harm  in  this  breeze,"  Far 
rar  replied ;  "  it  isn't  strong  enough  to  get  any 
where  with." 


The  Celebrity  141 

He  was  right.  The  boom  gybed  twenty  times 
that  morning,  and  the  Celebrity  offered  an  equal 
number  of  apologies.  Mr.  Cooke  and  the  Four 
vanished,  and  from  the  uproarious  laughter  which 
arose  from  the  cabin  transoms  I  judged  they 
were  telling  stories.  While  Miss  Thorn  spent 
the  time  profitably  in  learning  how  to  conn  a 
yacht.  At  one,  when  we  had  luncheon,  Mohair 
was  still  in  the  distance.  At  two  it  began  to 
cloud  over,  the  wind  fell  flat,  and  an  ominous 
black  bank  came  up  from  the  south.  Without 
more  ado,  Farrar,  calling  on  me  to  give  him  a 
hand,  eased  down  the  halliards  and  began  to 
close  reef  the  mainsail. 

"  Hold  on,"  said  the  Celebrity,  "who  told  you 
to  do  that?" 

"  I  am  very  sure  you  didn't,"  Farrar  returned, 
as  he  hauled  out  a  reef  earing. 

Here  a  few  drops  of  rain  on  the  deck  warned 
the  ladies  to  retire  to  the  cabin. 

"Take  the  helm  until  I  get  my  mackintosh, 
will  you,  Farrar?"  said  the  Celebrity,  "and  be 
careful  what  you  do." 

Farrar  took  the  helm  and  hauled  in  the  sheet, 
while  the  Celebrity,  Mr.  Cooke,  and  the  guests 
donned  their  rain-clothes.  The  water  ahead  was 


142  The  Celebrity 

now  like  blue  velvet,  and  the  rain  pelting.  The 
Maria  was  heeling  to  the  squall  by  the  time  the 
Celebrity  appeared  at  the  cabin  door,  enveloped 
in  an  ample  waterproof,  a  rubber  cover  on  his 
yachting  cap.  A  fool  despises  a  danger  he  has 
never  experienced,  and  our  author,  with  a  re 
mark  about  a  spanking  breeze,  made  a  motion 
to  take  the  wheel.  But  Farrar,  the  flannel  of 
his  shirt  clinging  to  the  muscular  outline  of  his 
shoulders,  gave  him  a  push  which  sent  him 
sprawling  against  the  lee  refrigerator.  Well 
Miss  Thorn  was  not  there  to  see. 

"  You  will  have  to  answer  for  this,"  he  cried, 
as  he  scrambled  to  his  feet  and  clutched  the 
weather  wash-board  with  one  hand,  while  he 
shook  the  other  in  Farrar's  face. 

"Crocker,"  said  Farrar  to  me,  coolly,  "keep 
that  idiot  out  of  the  way  for  a  while,  or  we'll  all 
be  drowned.  Tie  him  up,  if  necessary." 

I  was  relieved  from  this  somewhat  unpleasant 
task.  Mr.  Cooke,  with  his  back  to  the  rain,  sat 
an  amused  witness  to  the  mutiny,  as  blissfully 
ignorant  as  the  Celebrity  of  the  character  of  a 
lake  squall. 

"  I  appeal  to  you,  as  the  owner  of  this  yacht, 
Mr.  Cooke,"  the  Celebrity  shouted,  "whether, 


The  Celebrity  143 

as  the  person  delegated  by  you  to  take  charge 
of  it,  I  am  to  suffer  indignity  and  insult.  I 
have  sailed  larger  yachts  than  this  time  and 
again  on  the  coast,  at  —  "  here  he  swallowed  a 
portion  of  a  wave  and  was  mercifully  prevented 
from  being  specific. 

But  Mr.  Cooke  was  looking  a  trifle  bewildered. 
It  was  hardly  possible  for  him  to  cling  to  the  re 
frigerator,  much  less  quell  a  mutiny.  One  who 
has  sailed  the  lakes  well  knows  how  rapidly  they 
can  be  lashed  to  fury  by  a  storm,  and  the  wind 
was  now  spinning  the  tops  of  the  waves  into  a 
blinding  spray.  Although  the  Maria  proved  a 
stiff  boat  and  a  seaworthy,  she  was  not  alto 
gether  without  motion ;  and  the  set  expression 
on  Farrar's  face  would  have  told  me,  had  I  not 
known  it,  that  our  situation  at  that  moment  was 
no  joke.  Repeatedly,  as  she  was  held  up  to  it, 
a  precocious  roller  would  sweep  from  bow  to 
stern,  until  we  without  coats  were  wet  and 
shivering. 

The  close  and  crowded  cabin  of  a  small  yacht 
is  not  an  attractive  place  in  rough  weather  ;  and 
one  by  one  the  Four  emerged  and  distributed 
themselves  about  the  deck,  wherever  they  could 
obtain  a  hold.  Some  of  them  began  to  act 


144  The  Celebrity 

peculiarly.  Upon  Mr.  Cooke's  unwillingness  or 
inability  to  interfere  in  his  behalf,  the  Celebrity 
had  assumed  an  aggrieved  demeanor,  but  soon 
the  motion  of  the  Maria  became  more  and  more 
pronounced,  and  the  difficulty  of  maintaining  his 
decorum  likewise  increased.  The  ruddy  color 
left  his  face,  which  grew  pale  with  effort.  I 
will  do  him  the  justice  to  say  that  the  effort  was 
heroic :  he  whistled  popular  airs,  and  snatches 
of  the  grand  opera ;  he  relieved  Mr.  Cooke  of 
his  glasses  (of  which  Mr.  Cooke  had  neglected 
to  relieve  himself),  and  scanned  the  sea  line 
busily.  But  the  inevitable  deferred  is  fre 
quently  more  violent  than  the  inevitable  taken 
gracefully,  and  the  confusion  which  at  length 
overtook  the  Celebrity  was  utter  as  his  humilia 
tion  was  complete.  We  laid  him  beside  Mr. 
Cooke  in  the  cockpit. 

The  rain  presently  ceased,  and  the  wind 
hauled,  as  is  often  the  case,  to  the  northwest, 
which  began  to  clear,  while  Bear  Island  rose 
from  the  northern  horizon.  Both  Farrar  and 
I  were  surprised  to  see  Miss  Trevor  come  out ; 
she  hooked  back  the  cabin  doors  and  surveyed 
the  prostrate  forms  with  amusement. 

We  asked  her  about  those  inside. 


The  Celebrity  145 

"  Mrs.  Cooke  has  really  been  very  ill,"  she 
said,  "and  Miss  Thorn  is  doing  all  she  can  for 
her.  My  father  and  I  were  more  fortunate. 
But  you  will  both  catch  your  deaths,"  she  ex 
claimed,  noticing  our  condition.  "Tell  me 
where  I  can  find  your  coats." 

I  suppose  it  is  natural  for  a  man  to  enjoy 
being  looked  after  in  this  way ;  it  was  certainly 
a  new  sensation  to  Farrar  and  myself.  We 
assured  her  we  were  drying  out  and  did  not 
need  the  coats,  but  nevertheless  she  went  back 
into  the  cabin  and  found  them. 

"  Miss  Thorn  says  you  should  both  be 
whipped,"  she  remarked. 

When  we  had  put  on  our  coats  Miss  Trevor 
sat  down  and  began  to  talk. 

"I  once  heard  of  a  man,"  she  began  com 
placently,  "a  man  that  was  buried  alive,  and 
who  contrived  to  dig  himself  up  and  then  read 
his  own  epitaph.  It  did  not  please  him,  but  he 
was  wise  and  amended  his  life.  I  have  often 
thought  how  much  it  might  help  some  people 
if  they  could  read  their  own  epitaphs." 

Farrar  was  very  quick  at  this  sort  of  thing ; 
and  now  that  the  steering  had  become  easier 
was  only  too  glad  to  join  her  in  worrying  the 


146  The  Celebrity 

Celebrity.  But  he,  if  he  were  conscious,  gave 
no  sign  of  it. 

"  They  ought  to  be  buried  so  that  they  could 
not  dig  themselves  up,"  he  said.  "The  epi 
taphs  would  only  strengthen  their  belief  that 
they  had  lived  in  an  unappreciative  age." 

"  One  I  happen  to  have  in  mind,  however, 
lives  in  an  appreciative  age.  Most  appreciative." 

"  And  women  are  often  epitaph-makers." 

"  You  are  hard  on  the  sex,  Mr.  Farrar,"  she 
answered,  "but  perhaps  justly  so.  And  yet 
there  are  some  women  I  know  of  who  would 
not  write  an  epitaph  to  his  taste." 

Farrar  looked  at  her  curiously. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,"  he  said. 

"Do  not  imagine  I  am  touchy  on  the  sub 
ject,"  she  replied  quickly ;  "  some  of  us  are 
fortunate  enough  to  have  had  our  eyes  opened." 

I  thought  the  Celebrity  stirred  uneasily. 

"Have  you  read  The  Sybarites'?"  she  asked. 

Farrar  was  puzzled. 

"No,"  said  he  sententiously,  "and  I  don't 
want  to." 

"  I  know  the  average  man  thinks  it  a  disgrace 
to  have  read  it.  And  you  may  not  believe  me 
when  I  say  that  it  is  a  strong  story  of  its  kind, 


The  Celebrity  147 

with  a  strong  moral.  There  are  men  who 
might  read  that  book  and  be  a  great  deal  better 
for  it.  And,  if  they  took  the  moral  to  heart, 
it  would  prove  every  bit  as  effectual  as  their 
own  epitaphs." 

He  was  not  quite  sure  of  her  drift,  but  .he 
perceived  that  she  was  still  making  fun  of 
Mr.  Allen. 

"  And  the  moral  ?"  he  inquired. 

"Well,"  she  said,  "the  best  I  can  do  is  to  give 
you  a  synopsis  of  the  story,  and  then  you  can 
judge  of  its  fitness.  The  hero  is  called  Victor 
Desmond.  He  is  a  young  man  of  a  sterling 
though  undeveloped  character,  who  has  been 
hampered  by  an  indulgent  parent  with  a  large 
fortune.  Desmond  is  a  butterfly,  and  sips  life 
after  the  approved  manner  of  his  kind,  —  now 
from  Bohemian  glass,  now  from  vessels  of  gold 
and  silver.  He  chats  with  stage  lights  in  their 
dressing-rooms,  and  attends  a  ball  in  the  Bow 
ery  or  a  supper  at  Sherry's  with  a  ready  ver 
satility.  The  book,  apart  from  its  intention, 
really  gives  the  middle  classes  an  excellent  idea 
of  what  is  called  'high-life.' 

"  It  is  some  time  before  Desmond  discovers 
that  he  possesses  the  gift  of  Paris,  —  a  delib- 


148  The  Celebrity 

eration  proving  his  lack  of  conceit,  —  that  wher 
ever  he  goes  he  unwittingly  breaks  a  heart,  and 
sometimes  two  or  three.  This  discovery  is 
naturally  so  painful  that  he  comes  home  to  his 
chambers  and  throws  himself  on  a  lounge  before 
his  fire  in  a  fit  of  self-deprecation,  and  reflects 
on  a  misspent  and  foolish  life.  This,  mind  you, 
is  where  his  character  starts  to  develop.  And 
he  makes  a  heroic  resolve,  not  to  cut  off  his 
nose  or  to  grow  a  beard,  nor  get  married,  but 
henceforth  to  live  a  life  of  usefulness  and  seclu 
sion,  which  was  certainly  considerate.  And 
furthermore,  if  by  any  accident  he  ever  again 
involved  the  affections  of  another  girl  he  would 
marry  her,  be  she  as  ugly  as  sin  or  as  poor  as 
poverty.  Then  the  heroine  comes  in.  Her 
name  is  Rosamond,  which  sounds  well  and  may 
be  euphoniously  coupled  with  Desmond ;  and, 
with  the  single  exception  of  a  boarding-school 
girl,  she  is  the  only  young  woman  he  ever 
thought  of  twice.  In  order  to  save  her  and 
himself  he  goes  away,  but  the  temptation  to 
write  to  her  overpowers  him,  and  of  course  she 
answers  his  letter.  This  brings  on  a  corre 
spondence.  His  letters  take  the  form  of  con 
fessions,  and  are  the  fruits  of  much  philosophical 


The  Celebrity  149 

reflection.  '  Inconstancy  in  woman/  he  says, 
*  because  of  the  present  social  conditions,  is 
often  pardonable.  In  a  man,  nothing  is  more 
despicable.'  This  is  his  cardinal  principle,  and 
he  sticks  to  it  nobly.  For,  though  he  tires  of 
Rosamond,  who  is  quite  attractive,  however,  he 
marries  her  and  lives  a  life  of  self-denial.  There 
are  men  who  might  take  that  story  to  heart." 

I  was  amused  that  she  should  give  the  pas 
sage  quoted  by  the  Celebrity  himself.  Her 
double  meaning  was,  naturally,  lost  on  Farrar, 
but  he  enjoyed  the  thing  hugely,  nevertheless, 
as  more  or  less  applicable  to  Mr.  Allen.  I  made 
sure  that  gentleman  was  sensible  of  what  was 
being  said,  though  he  scarcely  moved  a  muscle. 
And  Miss  Trevor,  with  a  mirthful  glance  at  me 
that  was  not  without  a  tinge  of  triumph,  jumped 
lightly  to  the  deck  and  went  in  to  see  the 
invalids. 

We  were  now  working  up  into  the  lee  of  the 
island,  whose  tall  pines  stood  clean  and  black 
against  the  red  glow  of  the  evening  sky.  Mr. 
Cooke  began  to  give  evidences  of  life,  and 
finally  got  up  and  overhauled  one  of  the  ice- 
chests  for  a  restorative.  Farrar  put  into  the 
little  cove,  where  we  dropped  anchor,  and  soon 


150  The  Celebrity 

had  the  chief  sufferers  ashore ;  and  a  delicate 
supper,  in  the  preparation  of  which  Miss  Thorn 
showed  her  ability  as  a  cook,  soon  restored 
them.  For  my  part,  I  much  preferred  Miss 
Thorn's  dishes  to  those  of  the  Mohair  chef,  and 
so  did  Farrar.  And  the  Four,  surprising  as  it 
may  seem,  made  themselves  generally  useful 
about  the  camp  in  pitching  the  tents  under  Far- 
rar's  supervision.  But  the  Celebrity  remained 
apart  and  silent. 


CHAPTER   XI 

OUR  first  night  in  the  Bear  Island  camp 
passed  without  incident,  and  we  all  slept  pro 
foundly,  tired  out  by  the  labors  of  the  day 
before.  After  breakfast  the  Four  set  out  to 
explore,  with  trout-rods  and  shot-guns.  Bear 
Island  is,  with  the  exception  of  the  cove  into 
which  we  had  put,  as  nearly  round  as  an  island 
can  be,  and  perhaps  three  miles  in  diameter.  It 
has  two  clear  brooks  which,  owing  to  the  com 
parative  inaccessibility  of  the  place,  still  contain 
trout  and  grayling,  though  there  are  few  spots 
where  a  fly  can  be  cast  on  account  of  the  dense 
underbrush.  The  woods  contain  partridge,  or 
ruffed  grouse,  and  other  game  in  smaller  quan 
tities.  I  believe  my  client  entertained  some 
notion  of  establishing  a  preserve  here. 

The  insults  which  had  been  heaped  upon  the 
Celebrity  on  the  yacht  seemed  to  have  raised 
rather  than  lowered  him  in  Miss  Thorn's  esteem, 
for  these  two  ensconced  themselves  among  the 
pines  above  the  camp  with  an  Edition  de  luxe  of 


152  The  Celebrity 

one  of  his  works  which  she  had  brought  along. 
They  were  soon  absorbed  in  one  of  those  famous 
short  stories  of  his  with  the  ending  left  open  to 
discussion.  Mr.  Cooke  was  indisposed.  He 
had  not  yet  recovered  from  the  shaking  up  his 
system  had  sustained,  and  he  took  to  a  canvas 
easy  chair  he  had  brought  with  him  and  placed 
a  decanter  of  Scotch  and  a  tumbler  of  ice  at  his 
side.  The  efficacy  of  this  remedy  was  assured. 
And  he  demanded  the  bunch  of  newspapers  he 
spied  protruding  from  my  pocket. 

The  rest  of  us  were  engaged  in  various  occu 
pations  :  Mr.  Trevor  relating  experiences  of 
steamboat  days  on  the  Ohio  to  Mrs.  Cooke ; 
Miss  Trevor  buried  in  a  serial  in  the  Century ; 
and  Farrar  and  I  taking  an  inventory  of  fishing- 
tackle,  when  we  were  startled  by  a  loud  and  pro 
fane  ejaculation.  Mr.  Cooke  had  hastily  put 
down  his  glass  and  was  staring  at  the  newspaper 
before  him  with  eyes  as  large  as  after-dinner 
coffee-cups. 

"Come  here,"  he  shouted  over  at  us.  "Come 
here,  Crocker,"  he  repeated,  seeing  we  were  slow 
to  move.  "  For  God's  sake,  come  here  !  " 

In  obedience  to  this  emphatic  summons  I 
crossed  the  stream  and  drew  near  to  Mr.  Cooke, 


The  Celebrity  153 

who  was  busily  pouring  out  another  glass  of 
whiskey  to  tide  him  over  this  strange  excite 
ment.  But,  as  Mr.  Cooke  was  easily  excited 
and  on  such  occasions  always  drank  whiskey  to 
quiet  his  nerves,  I  thought  nothing  of  it.  He 
was  sitting  bolt  upright  and  held  out  the  paper 
to  me  with  a  shaking  hand,  while  he  pointed  to 
some  headlines  on  the  first  page.  And  this  is 
what  I  read  : 

TREASURER    TAKES    A    TRIP. 

CHARLES  WREXELL   ALLEN,  OF   THE   MILES   STAN- 
DISH    BICYCLE    COMPANY,    GETS    OFF    WITH 
IOO,OOO    DOLLARS. 

DETECTIVES    BAFFLED. 
THE    ABSCONDER    A    BACK     BAY     SOCIAL     LEADER. 

Half  way  down  the  column  was  a  picture  of 
Mr.  Allen,  a  cut  made  from  a  photograph,  and, 
allowing  for  the  crudities  of  newspaper  repro 
duction,  it  was  a  striking  likeness  of  the  Celeb 
rity.  Underneath  was  a  short  description.  Mr. 
Allen  was  five  feet  eleven  (the  Celebrity's 
height),  had  a  straight  nose,  square  chin,  dark 
hair  and  eyes,  broad  shoulders,  was  dressed 
elaborately ;  in  brief,  tallied  in  every  particular 
with  the  Celebrity  with  the  exception  of  the 


154  The  Celebrity 

slight  scar  which  Allen  was  thought  to  have  on 
his  forehead. 

The  situation  and  all  its  ludicrous  possibilities 
came  over  me  with  a  jump.  It  was  too  good  to 
be  true.  Had  Mr.  Charles  Wrexell  Allen 
arrived  at  Asquith  and  created  a  sensation  with 
the  man  who  stole  his  name  I  should  have  been 
amply  satisfied.  But  that  Mr.  Allen  had  been 
obliging  enough  to  abscond  with  a  large  sum  of 
money  was  beyond  dreaming  ! 

I  glanced  at  the  rest  of  it :  a  history  of  the 
well-established  company  followed,  with  all  that 
Mr.  Allen  had  done  for  it.  The  picture,  by  the 
way,  had  been  obtained  from  the  St.  Paul  agent 
of  the  bicycle.  After  doing  due  credit  to  the 
treasurer's  abilities  as  a  hustler  there  followed 
a  summary  of  his  character,  hitherto  without 
reproach ;  but  his  tastes  were  expensive  ones. 
Mr.  Allen's  tendency  to  extravagance  had  been 
noticed  by  the  members  of  the  Miles  Standish 
Company,  and  some  of  the  older  directors  had 
on  occasions  remonstrated  with  him.  But  he 
had  been  too  valuable  a  man  to  let  go,  and  it 
seems  as  treasurer  he  was  trusted  implicitly. 
He  was  said  to  have  more  clothes  than  any  man 
in  Boston. 


The  Celebrity  155 

I  am  used  to  thinking  quickly,  and  by  the 
time  I  had  read  this  I  had  an  idea. 

"What  in  hell.do  you  make  of  that,  Crocker?" 
cried  my  client,  eyeing  me  closely  and  repeating 
the  question  again  and  again,  as  was  his  wont 
when  agitated. 

"  It  is  certainly  plain  enough,"  I  replied,  "but 
I  should  like  to  talk  to  you  before  you  decide  to 
hand  him  over  to  the  authorities." 

I  thought  I  knew  Mr.  Cooke,  and  I  was  not 
mistaken. 

"  Authorities  !  "  he  roared.  "  Damn  the  au 
thorities  !  There's  my  yacht,  and  there's  the 
Canadian  border."  And  he  pointed  to  the 
north. 

The  others  were  pressing  around  us  by  this 
time,  and  had  caught  the  significant  words  which 
Mr.  Cooke  had  uttered.  I  imagine  that  if  my 
client  had  stopped  to  think  twice,  which  of 
course  is  a  preposterous  condition,  he  would 
have  confided  his  discovery  only  to  Farrar  and 
to  me.  It  was  now  out  of  the  question  to  keep 
it  from  the  rest  of  the  party,  and  Mr.  Trevor  got 
the  headlines  over  my  shoulder.  I  handed  him 
the  sheet. 

"  Read  it,  Mr.  Trevor,"  said  Mrs.  Cooke. 


156  The  Celebrity 

Mr.  Trevor,  in  a  somewhat  unsteady  voice, 
read  the  headlines  and  began  the  column,  and 
they  followed  breathless  with  astonishment  and 
agitation.  Once  or  twice  the  senator  paused 
to  frown  upon  the  Celebrity  with  a  terrible 
sternness,  thus  directing  all  other  eyes  to  him. 
His  demeanor  was  a  study  in  itself.  It  may  be 
surmised,  from  what  I  have  said  of  him,  that 
there  was  a  strain  of  the  actor  in  his  compo 
sition  ;  and  I  am  prepared  to  make  an  affidavit 
that,  secure  in  the  knowledge  that  he  had  wit 
nesses  present  to  attest  his  identity,  he  hugely 
enjoyed  the  sensation  he  was  creating.  That 
he  looked  forward  with  a  profound  pleasure  to 
the  stir  which  the  disclosure  that  he  was  the 
author  of  The  Sybarites  would  make.  His  face 
wore  a  beatific  smile. 

As  Mr.  Trevor  continued,  his  voice  became 
firmer  and  his  manner  more  majestic.  It  was  a 
task  distinctly  to  his  taste,  and  one  might  have 
thought  he  was  reading  the  sentence  of  a  Hast 
ings.  I  was  standing  next  to  his  daughter.  The 
look  of  astonishment,  perhaps  of  horror,  which 
I  had  seen  on  her  face  when  her  father  first 
began  to  read  had  now  faded  into  something 
akin  to  wickedness.  Did  she  wink  ?  I  can't 


The  Celebrity  157 

say,  never  before  having  had  a  young  woman 
wink  at  me.  But  the  next  moment  her  vin 
aigrette  was  rolling  down  the  bank  towards  the 
brook,  and  I  was  after  it.  I  heard  her  close 
behind  me.  She  must  have  read  my  intentions 
by  a  kind  of  mental  telepathy. 

"  Are  you  going  to  do  it  ?  "  she  whispered. 

"  Of  course,"  I  answered.  "  To  miss  such  a 
chance  would  be  a  downright  sin." 

There  was  a  little  awe  in  her  laugh. 

"Miss  Thorn  is  the  only  obstacle,"  I  added, 
"and  Mr.  Cooke  is  our  hope.  I  think  he  will 
go  by  me." 

"  Don't  let  Miss  Thorn  worry  you,"  she  said 
as  we  climbed  back. 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  "  I  demanded.  But  she 
only  shook  her  head.  We  were  at  the  top  again, 
and  Mr.  Trevor  was  reading  an  appended  de 
spatch  from  Buffalo,  stating  that  Mr.  Allen  had 
been  recognized  there,  in  the  latter  part  of 
June,  walking  up  and  down  the  platform  of 
the  station,  in  a  smoking-jacket,  and  that  he 
had  climbed  on  the  Chicago  limited  as  it  pulled 
out.  This  may  have  caused  the  Celebrity  to 
feel  a  trifle  uncomfortable. 

"  Ha  !  "  exclaimed  Mr.  Trevor,  as  he  put  down 


158  The  Celebrity 

the  paper.  "  Mr.  Cooke,  do  you  happen  to  have 
any  handcuffs  on  the  Maria?" 

But  my  client  was  pouring  out  a  stiff  helping 
from  the  decanter,  which  he  still  held  in  his 
hand.  Then  he  approached  the  Celebrity. 

"Don't  let  it  worry  you,  old  man,"  said  he, 
with  intense  earnestness.  "  Don't  let  it  worry 
you.  You're  my  guest,  and  I'll  see  you  safe 
out  of  it,  or  bust." 

"Fenelon,"  said  Mrs.  Cooke,  gravely,  "do 
you  realize  what  you  are  saying?" 

"You're  a  clever  one,  Allen,"  my  client  con 
tinued,  and  he  backed  away  the  better  to  look 
him  over;  "you  had  nerve  to  stay  as  long  as 
you  did." 

The  Celebrity  laughed  confidently. 

"  Cooke,"  he  replied,  "  I  appreciate  your  gen 
erosity,  —  I  really  do.  I  know  no  offence  is 
meant.  The  mistake  is,  in  fact,  most  pardon 
able." 

In  Mr.  Cooke  amazement  and  admiration 
were  clamoring  for  utterance. 

"  Damn  me,"  he  sputtered,  "if  you're  not  the 
coolest  embezzler  I  ever  saw." 

The  Celebrity  laughed  again.  Then  he  sur 
veyed  the  circle. 


The  Celebrity  159 

"My  friends,"  he  said,  "this  is  certainly  a 
most  amazing  coincidence ;  one  which,  I  assure 
you,  surprises  me  no  less  than  it  does  you. 
You  have  no  doubt  remarked  that  I  have  my 
peculiarities.  We  all  have. 

"  I  flatter  myself  I  am  not  entirely  unknown. 
And  the  annoyances  imposed  upon  me  by  a 
certain  fame  I  have  achieved  had  become  such 
that  some  months  ago  I  began  to  crave  the 
pleasures  of  the  life  of  a  private  man.  I 
determined  to  go  to  some  sequestered  resort 
where  my  face  was  unfamiliar.  The  possibil 
ity  of  being  recognized  at  Asquith  did  not  occur 
to  me.  Fortunately  I  was.  And  a  singular 
chance  led  me  to  take  the  name  of  the  man 
who  has  committed  this  crime,  and  who  has 
the  misfortune  to  resemble  me.  I  suppose  that 
now,"  he  added  impressively,  "  I  shall  have  to 
tell  you  who  I  am." 

He  paused  until  these  words  should  have 
gained  their  full  effect.  Then  he  held  up  the 
Edition  de  luxe  from  which  he  and  Miss  Thorn 
had  been  reading. 

"  You  may  have  heard,  Mrs.  Cooke,"  said  he, 
addressing  himself  to  our  hostess,  "you  may 
perhaps  have  heard  of  the  author  of  this  book." 


160  The  Celebrity 

Mrs.  Cooke  was  a  calm  woman,  and  she  read 
the  name  on  the  cover. 

"  Yes,"  she  said,  "  I  have.  And  you  claim  to 
be  he?" 

"Ask  my  friend  Crocker  here,"  he  answered 
carelessly,  no  doubt  exulting  that  the  scene  was 
going  off  so  dramatically.  "  I  should  indeed  be 
in  a  tight  box,"  he  went  on,  "  if  there  were  not 
friends  of  mine  here  to  help  me  out." 

They  turned  to  me. 

"  I  am  afraid  I  cannot,"  I  said  with  what 
soberness  I  could. 

"What!"  says  he  with  a  start.  "What!  you 
deny  me  ? " 

Miss  Trevor  had  her  tongue  in  her  cheek. 
I  bowed. 

"  I  am  powerless  to  speak,  Mr.  Allen,"  I 
replied. 

During  this  colloquy  my  client  stood  between 
us,  looking  from  one  to  the  other.  I  well  knew 
that  his  way  of  thinking  would  be  with  my  testi 
mony,  and  that  the  gilt  name  on  the  Edition  de 
luxe  had  done  little  towards  convincing  him  of 
Mr.  Allen's  innocence.  To  his  mind  there  was 
nothing  horrible  or  incongruous  in  the  idea  that 
a  well-known  author  should  be  a  defaulter.  It 


The  Celebrity  161 

was  perfectly  possible.  He  shoved  the  glass  of 
Scotch  towards  the  Celebrity,  with  a  smile. 

"Take  this,  old  man,"  he  kindly  insisted, 
"and  you'll  feel  better.  What's  the  use  of 
bucking  when  you're  saddled  with  a  thing  like 
that?"  And  he  pointed  to  the  paper.  "  Be 
sides,  they  haven't  caught  you  yet,  by  a  damned 
sight." 

The  Celebrity  waved  aside  the  proffered 
tumbler. 

"This  is  an  infamous  charge,  and  you  know 
it,  Crocker,"  he  cried.  "  If  you  don't,  you  ought 
to,  as  a  lawyer.  This  isn't  any  time  to  have 
fun  with  a  fellow." 

"  My  dear  sir,"  I  said,  "  I  have  charged  you 
with  nothing  whatever." 

He  turned  his  back  on  me  in  complete 
disgust.  And  he  came  face  to  face  with  Miss 
Trevor. 

"  Miss  Trevor,  too,  knows  something  of  me," 
he  said. 

"  You  forget,  Mr.  Allen,"  she  answered 
sweetly,  "you  forget  that  I  have  given  you 
my  promise  not  to  reveal  what  I  know." 

The  Celebrity  chafed,  for  this  was  as  damag 
ing  a  statement  as  could  well  be  uttered  against 


1 62  The  Celebrity 

him.  But  Miss  Thorn  was  his  trump  card,  and 
she  now  came  forward. 

"This  is  ridiculous,  Mr.  Crocker,  simply  ri 
diculous,"  said  she. 

"  I  agree  with  you  most  heartily,  Miss  Thorn," 
I  replied. 

"  Nonsense !  "  exclaimed  Miss  Thorn,  and  she 
drew  her  lips  together,  "pure  nonsense  !  " 

"Nonsense  or  not,  Marian,"  Mr.  Cooke  inter 
posed,  "  we  are  wasting  valuable  time.  The 
police  are  already  on  the  scent,  I'll  bet  my 
hat." 

"  Fenelon  !  "  Mrs.  Cooke  remonstrated. 

"  And  do  you  mean  to  say  in  soberness,  Uncle 
Fenelon,  that  you  believe  the  author  of  The 
Sybarites  to  be  a  defaulter?"  said  Miss  Thorn. 

"It  is  indeed  hard  to  believe  Mr.  Allen  a 
criminal,"  Mr.  Trevor  broke  in  for  the  first 
time.  "  I  think  it  only  right  that  he  should  be 
allowed  to  clear  himself  before  he  is  put  to 
further  inconvenience,  and  perhaps  injustice, 
by  any  action  we  may  take  in  the  matter." 

Mr.  Cooke  sniffed  suspiciously  at  the  word 
"  action." 

"  What  action  do  you  mean  ? "  he  demanded. 

"Well,"  replied  Mr.  Trevor,  with  some  hesita- 


The  Celebrity  163 

tion,  "  before  we  take  any  steps,  — that  is,  notify 
the  police." 

"  Notify  the  police  !  "  cried  my  client,  his  face 
red  with  a  generous  anger.  "  I  have  never  yet 
turned  a  guest  over  to  the  police,"  he  said 
proudly,  "and  won't,  not  if  I  know  it.  I'm 
not  that  kind." 

Who  shall  criticise  Mr.  Cooke's  code  of 
morality  ? 

"  Fenelon,"  said  his  wife,  "you  must  remem 
ber  you  have  never  yet  entertained  a  guest  of 
a  larcenous  character.  No  embezzlers  up  to 
the  present.  Marian,"  she  continued,  turning 
to  Miss  Thorn,  "you  spoke  as  if  you  might 
be  able  to  throw  some  light  upon  this  matter. 
Do  you  know  whether  this  gentleman  is  Charles 
Wrexell  Allen,  or  whether  he  is  the  author? 
In  short,  do  you  know  who  he  is?" 

The  Celebrity  lighted  a  cigarette.  Miss  Thorn 
said  indignantly,  — 

"Upon  my  word,  Aunt  Maria,  I  thought  that 
you,  at  least,  would  know  better  than  to  credit 
this  silly  accusation.  He  has  been  a  guest  at 
your  house,  and  I  am  astonished  that  you  should 
doubt  his  word." 

Mrs.  Cooke  looked  at  her  niece  perplexedly. 


164  The  Celebrity 

"  You  must  remember,  Marian,"  she  said 
gently,  "that  I  know  nothing  about  him, — 
where  he  came  from,  or  who  he  is.  Nor  does 
any  one  at  Asquith,  except  perhaps  Miss  Trevor, 
by  her  own  confession.  And  you  do  not  seem 
inclined  to  tell  what  you  know,  if  indeed  you 
know  anything." 

Upon  this  Miss  Thorn  became  more  indig 
nant  still,  and  Mrs.  Cooke  went  on  : 

"  Gentlemen,  as  a  rule,  do  not  assume  names, 
especially  other  people's.  They  are  usually 
proud  of  their  own.  Mr.  Allen  appears  among 
us,  from  the  clouds,  as  it  were,  and  in  due  time 
we  learn  from  a  newspaper  that  he  has  com 
mitted  a  defalcation.  And,  furthermore,  the 
paper  contains  a  portrait  and  an  accurate  de 
scription  which  put  the  thing  beyond  doubt. 
I  ask  you,  is  it  reasonable  for  him  to  state 
coolly  after  all  this  that  he  is  another  man? 
That  he  is  a  well-known  author?  It's  an 
absurdity.  I  was  not  born  yesterday,  my 
dear." 

"  It  is  most  reasonable  under  the  circum 
stances,"  replied  Miss  Thorn,  warmly.  "Extraor 
dinary  ?  Of  course  it's  extraordinary.  And  too 
long  to  explain  to  a  prejudiced  audience,  who 


The  Celebrity  165 

can't  be  expected  to  comprehend  the  character 
of  a  genius,  to  understand  the  yearning  of  a 
famous  man  for  a  little  quiet." 

Mrs.  Cooke  looked  grave. 

"Marian,  you  forget  yourself,"  she  said. 

"  Oh,  I  am  tired  of  it,  Aunt  Maria,"  cried 
Miss  Thorn;  "if  he  takes  my  advice,  he  will 
refuse  to  discuss  it  farther." 

She  did  not  seem  to  be  aware  that  she  had 
put  forth  no  argument  whatever,  save  a  woman's 
argument.  And  I  was  intensely  surprised  that 
her  indignation  should  have  got  the  better  of 
her  in  this  way,  having  always  supposed  her 
clear-headed  in  the  extreme.  A  few  words  from 
her,  such  as  I  supposed  she  would  have  spoken, 
had  set  the  Celebrity  right  with  all  except  Mr. 
Cooke.  To  me  it  was  a  clear  proof  that  the 
Celebrity  had  turned  her  head,  and  her  mind 
with  it. 

The  silence  was  broken  by  an  uncontrollable 
burst  of  laughter  from  Miss  Trevor.  She  was 
quickly  frowned  down  by  her  father,  who  re 
minded  her  that  this  was  not  a  comedy. 

"And,  Mr.  Allen,"  he  said,  "if  you  have  any 
thing  to  say,  or  any  evidence  to  bring  forward, 
now  is  the  time  to  do  it." 


1 66  The  Celebrity 

He  appeared  to  forget  that  I  was  the  district 
attorney. 

The  Celebrity  had  seated  himself  on  the 
trunk  of  a  tree,  and  was  blowing  out  the  smoke 
in  clouds.  He  was  inclined  to  take  Miss 
Thorn's  advice,  for  he  made  a  gesture  of  weari 
ness  with  his  cigarette,  in  the  use  of  which  he 
was  singularly  eloquent. 

"Tell  me,  Mr.  Trevor,"  said  he,  "why  I 
should  sit  before  you  as  a  tribunal  ?  Why  I 
should  take  the  trouble  to  clear  myself  of  a 
senseless  charge  ?  My  respect  for  you  inclines 
me  to  the  belief  that  you  are  laboring  under  a 
momentary  excitement ;  for  when  you  reflect 
that  I  am  a  prominent,  not  to  say  famous,  au 
thor,  you  will  realize  how  absurd  it  is  that  I 
should  be  an  embezzler,  and  why  I  decline  to 
lower  myself  by  an  explanation." 

Mr.  Trevor  picked  up  the  paper  and  struck  it. 

"Do  you  refuse  to  say  anything  in  the  face 
of  such  evidence  as  that  ? "  he  cried. 

"It  is  not  a  matter  for  refusal,  Mr.  Trevor. 
It  is  simply  that  I  cannot  admit  the  possibility 
of  having  committed  the  crime." 

"Well,  sir,"  said  the  senator,  his  black  neck 
tie  working  out  of  place  as  his  anger  got  the 


The  Celebrity  167 

better  of  him,  "  I  am  to  believe,  then,  because 
you  claim  to  be  the  author  of  a  few  society 
novels,  that  you  are  infallible  ?  Let  me  tell 
you  that  the  President  of  the  United  States 
himself  is  liable  to  impeachment,  and  bound 
to  disprove  any  charge  he  may  be  accused  of. 
What  in  Halifax  do  I  care  for  your  divine- 
right-of-authors  theory?  I'll  continue  to  think 
you  guilty  until  you  are  shown  to  be  inno 
cent." 

Suddenly  the  full  significance  of  the  Celeb 
rity's  tactics  struck  Mr.  Cooke,  and  he  reached 
out  and  caught  hold  of  Mr.  Trevor's  coat- 
tails. 

"Hold  on,  old  man,"  said  he;  "Allen  isn't 
going  to  be  ass  enough  to  own  up  to  it.  Don't 
you  see  we'd  all  be  jugged  and  fined  for  assist 
ing  a  criminal  over  the  border?  It's  out  of  con 
sideration  for  us." 

Mr.  Trevor  looked  sternly  over  his  shoulder 
at  Mr.  Cooke. 

"Do  you  mean  to  say,  sir,  seriously,"  he 
asked,  "that,  for  the  sake  of  a  misplaced  friend 
ship  for  this  man,  and  a  misplaced  sense  of 
honor,  you  are  bound  to  shield  a  guest,  though 
a  criminal  ?  That  you  intend  to  assist  him  to 


1 68  The  Celebrity 

escape  from  justice?  I  insist,  for  my  own  pro 
tection  and  that  of  my  daughter,  as  well  as  for 
that  of  the  others  present  that,  since  he  refuses 
to  speak,  we  must  presume  him  guilty  and  turn 
him  over." 

Mr.  Trevor  turned  to  Mrs.  Cooke,  as  if  rely 
ing  on  her  support. 

"  Fenelon,"  said  she,  "  I  have  never  sought 
to  influence  your  actions  when  your  friends 
were  concerned,  and  I  shall  not  begin  now. 
All  I  ask  of  you  is  to  consider  the  conse 
quences  of  your  intention." 

These  words  from  Mrs.  Cooke  had  much 
more  weight  with  my  client  than  Mr.  Trevor's 
blustering  demands. 

"  Maria,  my  clear,"  he  said,  with  a  deferential 
urbanity,  "  Mr.  Allen  is  my  guest,  and  a  gentle 
man.  When  a  gentleman  gives  his  word  that 
he  is  not  a  criminal,  it  is  sufficient." 

The  force  of  this,  for  some  reason,  did  not 
overwhelm  his  wife  ;  and  her  lip  curled  a  little, 
half  in  contempt,  half  in  risibility. 

''Pshaw,  Fenelon,"  said  she,  "what  a  fraud 
you  are.  Why  is  it  you  wish  to  get  Mr.  Allen 
over  the  border,  then  ? "  A  question  which 
might  well  have  staggered  a  worthier  intellect. 


The  Celebrity  169 

"Why,  my  dear,"  answered  my  client,  "I 
wish  to  save  Mr.  Allen  the  inconvenience,  not 
to  say  the  humiliation,  of  being  brought  East 
in  custody  and  strapped  with  a  pair  of  hand 
cuffs.  Let  him  take  a  shooting  trip  to  the 
great  Northwest  until  the  real  criminal  is 
caught." 

"Well,  Fenelon,"  replied  Mrs.  Cooke,  unable 
to  repress  a  smile,  "  one  might  as  well  try  to 
argue  with  a  turn-stile  or  a  weather-vane.  I 
wash  my  hands  of  it." 

But  Mr.  Trevor,  who  was  both  a  self-made 
man  and  a  Western  politician,  was  far  from 
being  satisfied.  He  turned  to  me  with  a  sweep 
of  the  arm  he  had  doubtless  learned  in  the  Ohio 
State  Senate. 

"Mr.  Crocker,"  he  cried,  "are  you,  as  attor 
ney  of  this  district,  going  to  aid  and  abet  in  the 
escape  of  a  fugitive  from  justice  ?  " 

"Mr.  Trevor,"  said  I,  "I  will  take  the  course 
in  this  matter  which  seems  fit  to  me,  and  with 
out  advice  from  any  one." 

He  wheeled  on  Farrar,  repeated  the  question, 
and  got  a  like  answer. 

Brought  to  bay  for  a  time,  he  glared  savagely 
around  him  while  groping  for  further  arguments.. 


I/O  The  Celebrity 

But  at  this  point  the  Four  appeared  on  the 
scene,  much  the  worse  for  thickets,  and  clamor 
ing  for  luncheon.  They  had  five  small  fish 
between  them  which  they  wanted  Miss  Thorn 
to  cook. 


CHAPTER    XII 

THE  Four  received  Mr.  Cooke's  plan  for  the 
Celebrity's  escape  to  Canada  with  enthusiastic 
acclamation,  and  as  the  one  thing  lacking  to 
make  the  Bear  Island  trip  a  complete  success. 
The  Celebrity  was  hailed  with  the  reverence 
due  to  the  man  who  puts  up  the  ring-money  in 
a  prize-fight.  He  was  accorded,  too,  a  certain 
amount  of  respect  as  a  defaulter,  which  the 
Four  would  have  denied  him  as  an  author,  for  I 
am  inclined  to  the  belief  that  the  discovery  of 
his  literary  profession  would  have  lowered  him 
rather  than  otherwise  in  their  eyes.  My  client 
was  naturally  anxious  to  get  under  way  at  once 
for  the  Canadian  border,  but  was  overruled  in 
this  by  his  henchmen,  who  demanded  some 
thing  to  eat.  We  sat  down  to  an  impromptu 
meal,  which  was  an  odd  affair  indeed.  Mrs. 
Cooke  maintained  her  usual  serenity,  but  said 
little,  while  Miss  Trevor  and  I  had  many  a 
mirthful  encounter  at  the  thought  of  the  turn 
matters  had  taken. 

171 


172  The  Celebrity 

At  the  other  end  of  the  cloth  were  Mr.  Cooke 
and  the  Four,  in  wonderful  spirits  and  unim 
paired  appetite,  and  in  their  midst  sat  the 
Celebrity,  likewise  in  wonderful  spirits.  His 
behavior  now  and  again  elicited  a  loud  grunt  of 
disapproval  from  Mr.  Trevor,  who  was  plying 
his  knife  and  fork  in  a  manner  emblematic  of 
his  state  of  mind.  Mr.  Allen  was  laughing  and 

o  o 

joking  airily  with  Mr.  Cooke  and  the  guests, 
denying,  but  not  resenting,  their  accusations 
with  all  the  sang-froid  of  a  hardened  criminal. 
He  did  not  care  particularly  to  go  to  Canada, 
he  said.  Why  should  he,  when  he  was  inno 
cent  ?  But,  if  Mr.  Cooke  insisted,  he  would 
enjoy  seeing  that  part  of  the  lake  and  the 
Canadian  side. 

Afterwards  I  perceived  Miss  Thorn  down  by 
the  brookside,  washing  dishes.  Her  sleeves 
were  drawn  back  to  the  elbow,  and  a  dainty 
white  apron  covered  her  blue  skirt,  while  the 
wind  from  the  lake  had  disentangled  errant 
wisps  of  her  hair.  I  stood  on  the  brink  above, 
secure,  as  I  thought,  from  observation,  when 
she  chanced  to  look  up  and  spied  me. 

"Mr.  Crocker,"  she  called,  "would  you  like 
to  make  yourself  useful  ? " 


The  Celebrity  173 

I  was  decidedly  embarrassed.  Her  manner 
was  as  frank  and  unconstrained  as  though  I  had 
not  been  shunning  her  for  weeks  past. 

"If  such  a  thing  is  possible,"  I  replied. 

"Do  you  know  a  dish-cloth  when  you  see 
one?" 

I  was  doubtful.  But  I  procured  the  cloth 
from  Miss  Trevor  and  returned.  There  was  an 
air  about  Miss  Thorn  that  was  new  to  me. 

"What  an  uncompromising  man  you  are,  Mr. 
Crocker,"  she  said  to  me.  "  Once  a  person  is 
unfortunate  enough  to  come  under  the  ban  of 
your  disapproval  you  have  nothing  whatever  to 
do  with  them.  Now  it  seems  that  I  have  given 
you  offence  in  some  way.  Is  it  not  so?" 

"  You  magnify  my  importance,"  I  said. 

"No  temporizing,  Mr.  Crocker,"  she  went 
on,  as  though  she  meant  to  be  obeyed ;  "  sit 
down  there,  and  let's  have  it  out.  I  like  you 
too  well  to  quarrel  with  you." 

There  was  no  resisting  such  a  command,  and 
I  threw  myself  on  the  pebbles  at  her  feet. 

"I  thought  we  were  going  to  be  great  friends," 
she  said.  "  You  and  Mr.  Farrar  were  so  kind 
to  me  on  the  night  of  my  arrival,  and  we  had 
such  fun  watching  the  dance  together." 


174  The  Celebrity 

"  I  confess  I  thought  so,  too.  But  you  ex- 
pressed  opinions  then  that  I  shared.  You  have 
since  changed  your  mind,  for  some  unaccount 
able  reason." 

She  paused  in  her  polishing,  a  shining  dish  in 
her  hand,  and  looked  down  at  me  with  some 
thing  between  a  laugh  and  a  frown. 

"  I  suppose  you  have  never  regretted  speaking 
hastily,"  she  said. 

"  Many  a  time,"  I  returned,  warming;  "but  if 
I  ever  thought  a  judgment  measured  and  dis 
tilled,  it  was  your  judgment  of  the  Celebrity." 

"Does  the  study  of  law  eliminate  humanity?" 
she  asked,  with  a  mock  curtsey.  "  The  deliber 
ate  sentences  are  sometimes  the  unjust  ones, 
and  men  who  are  hung  by  weighed  wisdom  are 
often  the  innocent." 

"  That  is  all  very  well  in  cases  of  doubt. 
But  here  you  have  the  evidences  of  wrong-doing 
directly  before  you." 

Three  dishes  were  taken  up,  dried,  and  put 
down  before  she  answered  me.  I  threw  pebbles 
into  the  brook,  and  wished  I  had  held  my 
tongue. 

"  What  evidence  ?  "  inquired  she. 

"Well,"  said  I,  "I  must  finish,  I  suppose.     I 


The  Celebrity  175 

had  a  notion  you  knew  of  what  I  inferred. 
First,  let  me  say  that  I  have  no  desire  to  preju 
dice  you  against  a  person  whom  you  admire." 

"  Impossible." 

Something  in  her  tone  made  me  look  up. 

"Very  good,  then,"  I  answered.  "I,  for  one, 
can  have  no  use  for  a  man  who  devotes  himself 
to  a  girl  long  enough  to  win  her  affections,  and 
then  deserts  her  with  as  little  compunction  as  a 
dog  does  a  rat  it  has  shaken.  And  that  is  how 
your  Celebrity  treated  Miss  Trevor." 

"  But  Miss  Trevor  has  recovered,  I  believe," 
said  Miss  Thorn. 

I  began  to  feel  a  deep,  but  helpless,  inse 
curity. 

"Happily,  yes,"  I  assented. 

"Thanks  to  an  excellent  physician." 

A  smile  twitched  the  corners  of  her  mouth,  as 
though  she  enjoyed  my  discomfiture.  I  re 
marked  for  the  fiftieth  time  how  strong  her  face 
was,  with  its  generous  lines  and  clearly  moulded 
features.  And  a  suspicion  entered  my  soul. 

"At  any  rate,"  I  said,  with  a  laugh,  "the 
Celebrity  has  got  himself  into  no  end  of  a  pre 
dicament  now.  He  may  go  back  to  New  York 
in  custody." 


176  The  Celebrity 

"  I  thought  you  incapable  of  resentment,  Mr 
Crocker.  How  mean  of  you  to  deny  him  !  " 

"It  can  do  no  harm,"  I  answered;  " a  little 
lesson  in  the  dangers  of  incognito  may  be  salu 
tary.  I  wish  it  were  a  little  lesson  in  the 
dangers  of  something  else." 

The  color  mounted  to  her  face  as  she  resumed 
her  occupation. 

"  I  am  afraid  you  are  a  very  wicked  man,"  she 
said. 

Before  I  could  reply  there  came  a  scuffling 
sound  from  the  bank  above  us,  and  the  snapping 
of  branches  and  twigs.  It  was  Mr.  Cooke. 
His  descent,  the  personal  conduction  of  which 
he  lost  half-way  down,  was  irregular  and  spas 
modic,  and  a  rude  concussion  at  the  bottom 
knocked  off  a  choice  bit  of  profanity  which  was 
balanced  on  the  tip  of  his  tongue. 

"Tobogganing  is  a  little  out  of  season,"  said 
his  niece,  laughing  heartily. 

Mr.  Cooke  brushed  himself  off,  picked  up  the 
glasses  which  he  had  dropped  in  his  flight  and 
pushed  them  into  my  hands.  Then  he  pointed 
lakeward  with  bulging  eyes. 

"  Crocker,  old  man,"  he  said  in  aloud  whisper, 
"they  tell  me  that  is  an  Asquith  cat-boat." 


The  Celebrity  177 

I  followed  his  finger  and  saw  for  the  first  time 
a  sail-boat  headed  for  the  island,  then  about  two 
miles  off  shore.  I  raised  the  glasses. 

"Yes,"  I  said,  "  the  Scimitar!' 

"That's  what  Farrar  said,"  cried  he. 

"And  what  about  it  ?"  I  asked. 

"  What  about  it  ?  "  he  ejaculated.  "  Why,  it's 
a  detective  come  for  Allen.  I  knew  sure  as 
hell  if  they  got  as  far  as  Asquith  they  wouldn't 
stop  there.  And  that's  the  fastest  sail-boat  he 
could  hire  there,  isn't  it  ?  " 

I  replied  that  it  was.  He  seized  me  by  the 
shoulder  and  began  dragging  me  up  the  bank. 

"What  are  you  going  to  do?"  I  cried,  shaking 
myself  loose. 

"  We've  got  to  get  on  the  Maria  and  run  for 
it,"  he  panted.  "There  is  no  time  to  be 
lost." 

He  had  reached  the  top  of  the  bank  and  was 
running  towards  the  group  at  the  tents.  And 
he  actually  infused  me  with  some  of  his  red-hot 
enthusiasm,  for  I  hastened  after  him. 

"  But  you  can't  begin  to  get  the  Maria  out 
before  they  will  be  in  here,"  I  shouted. 

He  stopped  short,  gazed  at  the  approaching 
boat,  and  then  at  me. 

N 


178  The  Celebrity 

"Is  that  so?" 

"Yes,  of  course,"  said  I,  "they  will  be  here 
in  ten  minutes." 

The  Celebrity  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  excited 
Four.  His  hair  was  parted  precisely,  and  he 
had  induced  a  monocle  to  remain  in  his  eye  long 
enough  to  examine  the  Scimitar,  his  nose  at  the 
critical  elevation.  This  unruffled  exterior  made 
a  deep  impression  on  the  Four.  Was  the  Ce 
lebrity  not  undergoing  the  crucial  test  of  a  true 
sport  ?  He  was  an  example  alike  to  criminals 
and  philosophers. 

Mr.  Cooke  hurried  into  the  group,  which 
divided  respectfully  for  him,  and  grasped  the 
Celebrity  by  the  hand. 

"Something  else  has  got  to  be  done,  old 
man,"  he  said,  in  a  voice  which  shook  with  emo 
tion  ;  "  they'll  be  on  us  before  we  can  get  the 
Maria  out." 

Farrar,  who  was  nailing  a  rustic  bench  near 
by,  straightened  up  at  this,  his  lip  curling  with 
a  desire  to  laugh. 

The  Celebrity  laid  his  hand  on  my  client's 
shoulder. 

"  Cooke,"  said  he,  "  I'm  deeply  grateful  for 
all  the  trouble  you  wish  to  take,  and  for  the 


The  Celebrity  179 

solicitude  you  have  shown.  But  let  things  be. 
I'll  come  out  of  it  all  right." 

"  Never,"  cried  Cooke,  looking  proudly  around 
the  Four  as  some  Highland  chief  might  have 
surveyed  a  faithful  clan.  "I'd  a  damned  sight 
rather  go  to  jail  myself." 

"  A  damned  sight,"  echoed  the  Four  in  unison. 

"  I  insist,  Cooke,"  said  the  Celebrity,  taking 
out  his  eyeglass  and  tapping  Mr.  Cooke's  purple 
necktie,  "I  insist  that  you  drop  this  business.  I 
repeat  my  thanks  to  you  and  these  gentlemen 
for  the  friendship  they  have  shown,  but  say  again 
that  I  am  as  innocent  of  this  crime  as  a  baby." 

Mr.  Cooke  paid  no  attention  to  this  speech. 
His  face  became  radiant. 

"  Didn't  any  of  you  fellows  strike  a  cave,  or  a 
hollow  tree,  or  something  of  that  sort,  knocking 
around  this  morning  ?  " 

One  man  slapped  his  knee. 

"The  very  place,"  he  cried.  "I  fell  into  it," 
and  he  showed  a  rent  in  his  trousers  corrobora- 
tively.  "It's  big  enough  to  hold  twenty  of 
Allen,  and  the  detective  doesn't  live  that  could 
find  it." 

"Hustle  him  off,  quick,"  said  Mr.  Cooke. 

The    mandate   was    obeyed    as    literally    as 


i8o  The  Celebrity 

though  Robin  Hood  himself  had  given  it.  The 
Celebrity  disappeared  into  the  forest,  carried 
rather  than  urged  towards  his  destined  place  of 
confinement. 

The  commotion  had  brought  Mr.  Trevor  to 
the  spot.  He  caught  sight  of  the  Celebrity's 
back  between  the  trees,  then  he  looked  at  the 
cat-boat  entering  the  cove,  a  man  in  the  stern 
preparing  to  pull  in  the  tender.  He  intercepted 
Mr.  Cooke  on  his  way  to  the  beach. 

"  What  have  you  done  with  Mr.  Allen  ? "  he 
asked,  in  a  menacing  voice. 

"  Good  God,"  said  Mr.  Cooke,  whose  contempt 
for  Mr.  Trevor  was  now  infinite,  "you  talk  as 
if  I  were  the  governor  of  the  state.  What  the 
devil  could  I  do  with  him  ? " 

"  I  will  have  no  evasion,"  replied  Mr.  Trevor, 
taking  an  imposing  posture  in  front  of  him. 
"  You  are  trying  to  defeat  the  ends  of  justice  by 
assisting  a  dangerous  criminal  to  escape.  I  have 
warned  you,  sir,  and  warn  you  again  of  the  con 
sequences  of  your  meditated  crime,  and  I  give 
you  my  word  I  will  do  all  in  my  power  to  frus 
trate  it." 

Mr.  Cooke  dug  his  thumbs  into  his  waistcoat 
pockets.  Here  was  a  complication  he  had  not 


The  Celebrity  181 

looked  for.  The  Scimitar  lay  at  anchor  with 
her  sail  down,  and  two  men  were  coming  ashore 
in  the  tender.  Mr.  Cooke's  attitude  being  that  of 
a  man  who  reconsiders  a  rash  resolve,  Mr.  Trevor 
was  emboldened  to  say  in  a  moderated  tone : 

"  You  were  carried  away  by  your  generosity, 
Mr.  Cooke.  I  was  sure  when  you  took  time  to 
think  you  would  see  it  in  another  light." 

Mr.  Cooke  started  off  for  the  place  where  the 
boat  had  grounded.  I  did  not  catch  his  reply, 
and  probably  should  not  have  written  it  here  if 
I  had.  The  senator  looked  as  if  he  had  been 
sand-bagged. 

The  two  men  jumped  out  of  the  boat  and 
hauled  it  up.  Mr.  Cooke  waved  an  easy  salute 
to  one,  whom  I  recognized  as  the  big  boatman 
from  Asquith,  familiarly  known  as  Captain  Jay. 
He  owned  the  Scimitar  and  several  smaller 
boats.  The  captain  went  through  the  panto 
mime  of  an  introduction  between  Mr.  Cooke  and 
the  other,  whom  my  client  shook  warmly  by 
the  hand,  and  presently  all  three  came  towards 
us. 

Mr.  Cooke  led  them  to  a  bar  he  had  impro 
vised  by  the  brook.  A  pool  served  the  office 
of  refrigerator,  and  Mr.  Cooke  had  devised  an  in- 


1 82  The  Celebrity 

genious  but  complicated  arrangement  of  strings 
and  labels  which  enabled  him  to  extract  any 
bottle  or  set  of  bottles  without  having  to  bare 
his  arm  and  pull  out  the  lot.  Farrar  and  I 
responded  to  the  call  he  had  given,  and  went 
down  to  assist  in  the  entertainment.  My  client, 
with  his  back  to  us,  was  busy  manipulating  the 
strings. 

"  Gentlemen,"  he  said,  "let  me  make  you 
acquainted  with  Mr.  Drew.  You  all  know  the 
captain." 

Had  I  not  suspected  Mr.  Drew's  profession, 
I  think  I  should  not  have  remarked  that  he 
gave  each  of  us  a  keen  look  as  he  raised  his 
head.  He  had  reddish-brown  hair,  and  a  pair 
of  bushy  red  whiskers,  each  of  which  tapered  to 
a  long  point.  He  was  broad  in  the  shoulders, 
and  the  clothes  he  wore  rather  enhanced  this 
breadth.  His  suit  was  gray  and  almost  new, 
the  trousers  perceptibly  bagging  at  the  knee, 
and  he  had  a  felt  hat,  a  necktie  of  the  white 
and  flowery  pattern,  and  square-toed  "  Con 
gress  "  boots.  In  short,  he  was  a  decidedly 
ordinary  looking  person ;  you  would  meet  a 
hundred  like  him  in  the  streets  of  Far  Harbor 
and  Beaverton.  He  might  have  been  a  prosper- 


The  Celebrity  183 

ous  business  man  in  either  of  those  towns,  —  a 
comfortable  lumber  merchant  or  mine  owner. 
And  he  had  chosen  just  the  get-up  I  should 
have  picked  for  detective  work  in  that  region. 
He  had  a  pleasant  eye  and  a  very  fetching  and 
hearty  manner.  But  his  long  whiskers  troubled 
me  especially.  I  kept  wondering  if  they  were 
real. 

"The  captain  is  sailing  Mr.  Drew  over  to 
Far  Harbor,"  explained  Mr.  Cooke,  "  and  they 
have  put  in  here  for  the  night." 

Mr.  Drew  was  plainly  not  an  amateur,  for  he 
volunteered  nothing  further  than  this.  The  nec 
essary  bottles  having  been  produced,  Mr.  Cooke 
held  up  his  glass  and  turned  to  the  stranger. 

"Welcome  to  our  party,  old  man,"  said  he. 

Mr.  Drew  drained  his  glass  and  complimented 
Mr.  Cooke  on  the  brand, — a  sure  key  to  my 
client's  heart.  Whereupon  he  seated  himself 
between  Mr.  Drew  and  the  captain  and  began 
a  discourse  on  the  subject  of  his  own  cellar,  on 
which  he  talked  for  nearly  an  hour.  His  only 
pauses  were  for  the  worthy  purpose  of  filling 
the  detective's  or  the  captain's  glass,  and  these 
he  watched  with  a  hospitable  solicitude.  The 
captain  had  the  advantage,  three  to  one,  and  I 


1 84  The  Celebrity 

made  no  doubt  his  employer  bitterly  regretted 
not  having  a  boatman  whose  principles  were 
more  strict.  At  the  end  of  the  hour  Captain 
Jay,  who  by  nature  was  inclined  to  be  taciturn 
and  crabbed,  waxed  loquacious  and  even  jovial. 
He  sang  us  the  songs  he  had  learned  in  the 
winter  lumber-camps,  which  Mr.  Cooke  never 
failed  to  encore  to  the  echo.  My  client  vowed 
he  had  not  spent  a  pleasanter  afternoon  for 
years.  He  plied  the  captain  with  cigars,  and 
explained  to  him  the  mystery  of  the  strings  and 
labels ;  and  the  captain  experimented  until  he 
had  broken  some  of  the  bottles. 

Mr.  Cooke  was  not  a  person  who  made  any 
great  distinction  between  the  three  degrees,  — 
acquaintance,  friendship,  and  intimacy.  When 
a  strange^  ^leased  him,  he  went  from  one  to  the 
other  with  such  comparative  ease  that  a  hard 
hearted  man,  and  no  other,  could  have  resented 
his  advances.  Mr.  Drew  was  anything  but  a 
hard-hearted  man,  and  he  did  not  object  to  my 
client's  familiarity.  Mr.  Cooke  made  no  secret 
of  his  admiration  for  Mr.  Drew,  and  there  were 
just  two  things  about  him  that  Mr.  Cooke  ad 
mired  and  wondered  at,  above  all  else,  —  the 
bushy  red  whiskers.  But  it  appeared  that  these 


The  Celebrity  185 

were  the  only  things  that  Mr.  Drew  was  really 
touchy  about.  I  noticed  that  the  detective, 
without  being  impolite,  did  his  best  to  discour 
age  these  remarks  ;  but  my  client  knew  no  such 
word  as  discouragement.  .He  was  continually 
saying :  "  I  think  I'll  grow  some  like  that,  old 
man,"  or  "Have  those  cut,"  and  the  like,  —  a 
kind  of  humor  in  which  the  captain  took  an  in 
credible  delight.  And  finally,  when  a  certain 
pitch  of  good  feeling  had  been  arrived  at,  Mr. 
Cooke  reached  out  and  playfully  grabbed  hold 
of  the  one  near  him.  The  detective  drew 
back. 

"Mr.  Coojce,"  said  he,  with  dignity,  "I'll  have 
to  ask  you  to  let  my  whiskers  alone." 

"Certainly,  old  man,"  replied  my  client,  any 
thing  but  abashed.  "  You'll  pardor  me,  but 
they  seemed  too  good  to  be  true,  i  congratu 
late  you  on  them." 

I  was  amused  as  well  as  alarmed  at  this  piece 
of  boldness,  but  the  incident  passed  off  without 
any  disagreeable  results,  except,  perhaps,  a  slight 
nervousness  noticeable  in  the  detective  ;  and  this 
soon  disappeared.  As  the  sun  grew  low,  the 
Celebrity's  conductors  straggled  in  with  fishing- 
rods  and  told  of  an  afternoon's  sport,  and  we 


1 86  The  Celebrity 

left  the  captain  peacefully  but  sonorously  slum 
bering  on  the  bank. 

"Crocker,"  said  my  client  to  me,' afterwards, 
"they  didn't  feel  like  the  real,  home-grown 
article.  But  aren't  they  damned  handsome  ? " 


CHAPTER   XIII 

AFTER  supper,  Captain  Jay  was  rowed  out 
and  put  to  bed  in  his  own  bunk  on  the  Scimi 
tar.  Then  we  heaped  together  a  huge  pile  of 
the  driftwood  on  the  beach  and  raised  a  blazing 
beacon,  the  red  light  of  which  I  doubt  not  could 
be  seen  from  the  mainland.  The  men  made 
prongs  from  the  soft  wood,  while  Miss  Thorn 
produced  from  the  stores  some  large  tins  of 
marshmallows. 

The  memory  of  that  evening  lingers  with  me 
yet.  The  fire  colored  everything.  The  waves 
dashed  in  ruby  foam  at  our  feet,  and  even  the 
tall,  frowning  pines  at  our  backs  were  softened ; 
the  sting  was  gone  out  of  the  keen  night  wind 
from  the  north.  I  found  a  place  beside  the  gray 
cape  I  had  seen  for  the  first  time  the  night  of 
the  cotillon.  I  no  longer  felt  any  great  dislike 
for  Miss  Thorn,  let  it  be  known.  Resentment 
was  easier  when  the  distance  between  Mohair 
and  Asquith  separated  us,  —  impossible  on  a 
187 


1 88  The  Celebrity 

yachting  excursion.     But  why  should  I  be  jus 
tifying  myself  ? 

Mr.  Cooke  and  the  Four,  in  addition  to  other 
accomplishments,  possessed  excellent  voices,  and 
Mr.  Drew  sang  a  bass  which  added  much  to  the 
melody.  One  of  the  Four  played  a  banjo.  It 
is  only  justice  to  Mr.  Drew  to  say  that  he 
seemed  less  like  a  detective  than  any  man  I 
have  ever  met.  He  told  a  good  story  and  was 
quick  at  repartee,  and  after  a  while  the  music, 
by  tacit  consent,  was  abandoned  for  the  sake 
of  hearing  him  talk.  He  related  how  he  had 
worked  up  the  lake,  point  by  point,  from  Bea- 
verton  to  Asquith,  arid  lightened  his  narrative 
with  snappy  accounts  of  the  different  boatmen 
he  had  run  across  and  of  the  different  predica 
ments  into  which  he  had  fallen.  His  sketches 
were  so  vivid  that  Mr.  Cooke  forgot  to  wink  at 
me  after  a  while  and  sat  spellbound,  while  I 
marvelled  at  the  imaginative  faculty  he  dis 
played.  He  had  us  in  roars  of  laughter.  His 
stories  were  far  from  incredible,  and  he  looked 
less  like  a  liar  than  a  detective.  He  showed, 
too,  an  accurate  and  astonishing  knowledge  of 
the  lake  which  could  hardly  have  been  acquired 
in  any  other  way  than  the  long-shore  trip  he  had 


The  Celebrity  189 

described.  Not  once  did  he  hint  of  a  special 
purpose  which  had  brought  him  to  the  island, 
and  it  was  growing  late. 

The  fire  died  down  upon  the  stones,  and  the 
thought  of  the  Celebrity,  alone  in  a  dark  cave 
in  the  middle  of  the  island,  began  to  prey  upon 
me.  I  was  not  designed  for  a  practical  joker, 
and  I  take  it  that  pity  is  a  part  of  every  self- 
respecting  man's  composition.  In  the  cool  of 
the  night  season  the  ludicrous  side  of  the  matter 
did  not  appeal  to  me  quite  as  strongly  as  in  the 
glare  of  day.  A  joke  should  never  be  pushed 
to  cruelty.  It  was  in  vain  that  I  argued  I  had 
no  direct  hand  in  the  concealing  of  him  ;  I  felt 
my  responsibility  quite  as  heavy  upon  me.  Per 
haps  bears  still  remained  in  these  woods.  And 
if  a  bear  should  devour  the  author  of  The  Syba 
rites,  would  the  world  ever  forgive  me  ?  Could 
I  ever  repay  the  debt  to  the  young  women  of 
these  United  States  ? 

To  speak  truth,  I  expected  every  moment  to 
see  him  appear.  Why,  in  the  name  of  all  his 
works,  did  he  stay  there  ?  Nothing  worse  could 
befall  him  than  to  go  to  Far  Harbor  with  Drew, 
where  our  words  concerning  his  identity  would 
be  taken.  And  what  an  advertisement  this 


190  The  Celebrity 

would  be  for  the  great  author.  The  Sybarites, 
now  selling  by  thousands,  would  increase  its 
sales  to  ten  thousands.  Ah,  there  was  the  rub. 
The  clue  to  his  remaining  in  the  cave  was  this 
very  kink  in  the  Celebrity's  character.  There 
was  nothing  Bohemian  in  that  character ;  it 
yearned  after  the  eminently  respectable.  Its 
very  eccentricities  were  within  the  limits  of 
good  form.  The  Celebrity  shunned  the  bis 
cuits  and  beer  of  the  literary  clubs,  and  his 
books  were  bound  for  the  boudoir.  To  have  it 
proclaimed  in  the  sensational  journals  that  the 
hands  of  this  choice  being  had  been  locked  for 
grand  larceny  was  a  thought  too  horrible  to  en 
tertain.  His  very  manservant  would  have  cried 
aloud  against  it.  Better  a  hundred  nights  in  a 
cave  than  one  such  experience  ! 

Miss  Trevor's  behavior  that  evening  was  so 
unrestful  as  to  lead  me  to  believe  that  she,  too, 
was  going  through  qualms  of  sympathy  for  the 
victim.  As  we  were  breaking  up  for  the  even 
ing  she  pulled  my  sleeve. 

"  Don't  you  think  we  have  carried  our  joke 
a  little  too  far,  Mr.  Crocker  ? "  she  whispered 
uneasily.  "  I  can't  bear  to  think  of  him  in  that 
terrible  place." 


The  Celebrity  191 

"It  will  do  him  a  world  of  good,"  I  replied, 
assuming  a  gayety  I  did  not  feel.  It  is  not 
pleasant  to  reflect  that  some  day  one's  own 
folly  might  place  one  in  a  like  situation.  And 
the  night  was  dismally  cool  and  windy,  now 
that  the  fire  had  gone  out.  Miss  Trevor  began 
to  philosophize. 

"  Such  practical  pleasantries  as  this,"  she 
said,  "  are  like  infernal  machines :  they  often 
blow  up  the  people  that  start  them.  And  they 
are  next  to  impossible  to  steer." 

"  Perhaps  it  is  just  as  well  not  to  assume  we 
are  the  instruments  of  Providence,"  I  said. 

Here  we  ran  into  Miss  Thorn,  who  was  carry 
ing  a  lantern. 

"  I  have  been  searching  everywhere  for  you 
two  mischief-makers,"  said  she.  "  You  ought 
to  be  ashamed  of  yourselves.  Heaven  only 
knows  how  this  little  experiment  will  end. 
Here  is  Aunt  Maria,  usually  serene,  on  the 
verge  of  hysterics  :  she  says  he  shouldn't  stay 
in  that  damp  cave  another  minute.  Here  is 
your  father,  Irene,  organizing  relief  parties  and 
walking  the  floor  of  his  tent  like  a  madman. 
And  here  is  Uncle  Fenelon  insane  over  the 
idea  of  getting  the  poor,  innocent  man  into 


192  The  Celebrity 

Canada.  And  here  is  a  detective  saddled  upon 
us,  perhaps  for  days,  and  Uncle  Fenelon  has 
gotten  his  boatman  drunk.  You  ought  to  be 
ashamed  of  yourselves,"  she  repeated. 

Miss  Trevor  laughed,  in  spite  of  the  gravity 
of  these  things,  and  so  did  I. 

"  Oh,  come,  Marian,"  said  she,  "it  isn't  as 
bad  as  all  that.  And  you  talk  as  if  you  hadn't 
anything  to  be  reproached  for.  Your  own  de 
fence  of  the  Celebrity  wasn't  as  strong  as  it 
might  have  been." 

By  the  light  of  the  lantern  I  saw  Miss  Thorn 
cast  one  meaning  look  at  Miss  Trevor. 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it  ? "  asked 
Miss  Thorn,  addressing  me.  "Think  of  that 
unhappy  man,  without  a  bed,  without  blankets, 
without  even  a  tooth-brush." 

"  He  hasn't  been  wholly  off  my  mind,"  I 
answered  truthfully.  "But  there  isn't  any 
thing  we  can  do  to-night,  with  that  beastly 
detective  to  notice  it." 

"Then  you  must  go  very  early  to-morrow 
morning,  before  the  detective  gets  up." 

I  couldn't  help  smiling  at  the  notion  of  get 
ting  up  before  a  detective. 

"  I  am  only  too  willing,"  I  said. 


The  Celebrity  193 

"It  must  be  by  four  o'clock,"  Miss  Thorn 
went  on  energetically,  "and  we  must  have  a 
guide  we  can  trust.  Arrange  it  with  one  of 
Uncle  Fenelon's  friends.'* 

"We?"  I  repeated. 

"  You  certainly  don't  imagine  that  I  am  going 
to  be  left  behind  ? "  said  Miss  Thorn. 

I  made  haste  to  invite  for  the  expedition  one 
of  the  Four,  who  was  quite  willing  to  go  ;  and 
we  got  together  all  the  bodily  comforts  we 
could  think  of  and  put  them  in  a  hamper,  the 
Fraction  not  forgetting  to  add  a  few  bottles 
from  Mr.  Cooke's  immersed  bar. 

Long  after  the  camp  had  gone  to  bed,  I  lay 
on  the  pine-needles  above  the  brook,  shielded 
from  the  wind  by  a  break  in  the  slope,  and 
thought  of  the  strange  happenings  of  that  day. 
Presently  the  waning  moon  climbed  reluctantly 
from  the  waters,  and  the  stream  became  mottled, 
black  and  white,  the  trees  tall  blurs.  The  lake 
rose  and  fell  with  a  mighty  rhythm,  and  the 
little  brook  hurried  madly  over  the  stones  to 
join  it.  One  thought  chased  another  from  my 
brain. 

At  such  times,  when  one's  consciousness  of 
outer  things  is  dormant,  an  earthquake  might 
o 


194  The  Celebrity 

continue  for  some  minutes  without  one  realizing 
it.  I  did  not  observe,  though  I  might  have 
seen  from  where  I  lay,  the  flap  of  one  of  the 
tents  drawn  back  and  two  figures  emerge.  They 
came  and  stood  on  the  bank  above,  under  the 
tree  which  sheltered  me.  And  I  experienced 
a  curious  phenomenon.  I  heard,  and  under 
stood,  and  remembered  the  first  part  of  the 
conversation  which  passed  between  them,  and 
did  not  know  it. 

"  I  am  sorry  to  disturb  you,"  said  one. 

"  Not  at  all,"  said  the  other,  whose  tone,  I 
thought  afterwards,  betokened  surprise,  and 
no  great  cheerfulness. 

"  But  I  have  had  no  other  opportunity  to 
speak  with  you." 

"No,"  said  the  other,  rather  uneasily. 

Suddenly  my  senses  were  alert,  and  I  knew 
that  Mr.  Trevor  had  pulled  the  detective  out 
of  bed.  The  senator  had  no  doubt  anticipated 
an  easier  time,  and  he  now  began  feeling  for 
an  opening.  More  than  once  he  cleared  his 
throat  to  commence,  while  Mr.  Drew  pulled 
his  scant  clothing  closer  about  him,  his  whiskers 
playing  in  the  breeze. 

"In  Cincinnati,  Mr.  Drew,"  said  Mr.  Trevor, 


The  Celebrity  195 

at  length,  "  I  am  a  known,  if  not  an  influential, 
citizen  ;  and  I  have  served  my  state  for  three 
terms  in  its  Senate." 

"  I  have  visited  your  city,  Mr.  Trevor,"  an 
swered  Mr.  Drew,  his  teeth  chattering  audibly, 
"and  I  know  you  by  reputation." 

"  Then,  sir,"  Mr.  Trevor  continued,  with  a 
flourish  which  appeared  absolutely  grotesque 
in  his  attenuated  costume,  "it  must  be  clear 
to  you  that  I  cannot  give  my  consent  to  a  fla 
grant  attempt  by  an  unscrupulous  person  to 
violate  the  laws  of  this  country." 

"Your  feelings  are  to  be  respected,  sir." 

Mr.  Trevor  cleared  his  throat  again. 

"  Discretion  is  always  to  be  observed,  Mr. 
Drew.  And  I,  who  have  been  in  the  public 
service,  know  the  full  value  of  it." 

Mr.  Trevor  leaned  forward,  at  the  same  time 
glancing  anxiously  up  at  the  tree,  for  fear, 
perhaps,  that  Mr.  Cooke  might  be  concealed 
therein.  He  said  in  a  stage  whisper : 

"  A  criminal  is  concealed  on  this  island." 

Drew  started  perceptibly. 

"Yes,"  said  Mr.  Trevor,  with  a  glance  of 
triumph  at  having  produced  an  impression  on 
a  detective,  "I  thought  it  my  duty  to  inform 


196  The  Celebrity 

you.  He  has  been  hidden  by  the  followers  of 
the  unscrupulous  person  I  referred  to,  in  a  cave, 
I  believe.  I  repeat,  sir,  as  a  man  of  unim 
peachable  standing,  I  considered  it  my  duty 
to  tell  you." 

"  You  have  my  sincere  thanks,  Mr.  Trevor," 
said  Drew,  holding  out  his  hand,  "and  I  shall 
act  on  the  suggestion." 

Mr.  Trevor  clasped  the  hand  of  the  detective, 
and  they  returned  quietly  to  their  respective 
tents.  And  in  course  of  time  I  followed  them, 
wondering  how  this  incident  might  affect  our 
morning's  expedition. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

MY  first  thought  on  rising  was  to  look  for 
the  detective.  The  touch  of  the  coming  day 
was  on  the  lake,  and  I  made  out  the  two  boats 
dimly,  riding  on  the  dead  swell  and  tugging 
idly  at  their  chains.  The  detective  had  been 
assigned  to  a  tent  which  was  occupied  by 
Mr.  Cooke  and  the  Four,  and  they  were  sleep 
ing  soundly  at  my  entrance.  But  Drew's  blank 
ets  were  empty.  I  hurried  to  the  beach,  but 
the  Scimitar  s  boat  was  still  drawn  up  there 
near  the  Maria  s  tender,  proving  that  he  was 
still  on  the  island. 

Outside  of  the  ladies'  tent  I  came  upon  Miss 
Thorn,  stowing  a  large  basket.  I  told  her  that 
we  had  taken  that  precaution  the  night  before. 

"  What  did  you  put  in  ? "  she  demanded. 

I  enumerated  the  articles  as  best  I  could. 
And  when  I  had  finished,  she  said,  — 

"  And  I  am  filling  this  with  the  things  you 
have  forgotten." 

I  lost  no  time  in  telling  her  what  I  had  over- 
197 


198  The  Celebrity 

heard  the  night  before,  and  that  the  detective 
was  gone  from  his  tent.  She  stopped  her  pack 
ing  and  looked  at  me  in  concern. 

"  He  is  probably  watching  us,"  she  said.  "  Do 
you  think  we  had  better  go  ?  " 

I  thought  it  could  do  no  harm.  "If  we  are 
followed,"  said  I,  "all  we  have  to  do  is  to  turn 
back." 

Miss  Trevor  came  out  as  I  spoke,  and  our 
conductor  appeared,  bending  under  the  hamper. 
I  shouldered  some  blankets  and  the  basket,  and 
we  started.  We  followed  a  rough  path,  evi 
dently  cut  by  a  camping  party  in  some  past 
season,  but  now  overgrown.  The  Fraction 
marched  ahead,  and  I  formed  the  rear  guard. 
Several  times  it  seemed  to  me  as  though  some 
one  were  pushing  after  us,  and  more  than  once 
we  halted.  I  put  down  the  basket  and  went 
back  to  reconnoitre.  Once  I  believed  I  saw  a 
figure  flitting  in  the  gray  light,  but  I  set  it  down 
to  my  imagination. 

Finally  we  reached  a  brook,  sneaking  along  be 
neath  the  underbrush  as  though  fearing  to  show 
itself,  and  we  followed  its  course.  Branches 
lashed  our  faces  and  brambles  tore  our  clothes. 
And  then,  as  the  sunlight  was  filtering  through 


The  Celebrity  199 

and  turning  the  brook  from  blue  to  crystal,  we 
came  upon  the  Celebrity.  He  was  seated  in  a 
little  open  space  on  the  bank,  apparently  care 
less  of  capture.  He  did  not  even  rise  at  our 
approach.  His  face  showed  the  effect  of  a 
sleepless  night  and  wore  an  expression  inimical 
to  all  mankind.  The  conductor  threw  his  bundle 
on  the  bank  and  laid  his  hand  on  the  Celebrity's 
shoulder. 

"  Halloa,  old  man  !  "  said  he,  cheerily.  "  You 
must  have  had  a  hard  night  of  it.  But  we 
couldn't  make  you  any  sooner,  because  that 
hawk  of  an  officer  had  his  eye  on  us." 

The  Celebrity  shook  himself  free.  And  in 
place  of  the  gratitude  for  which  the  Fraction 
had  looked,  and  which  he  had  every  reason  to 
expect,  he  got  something  different. 

"This  outrage  has  gone  far  enough,"  said  the 
Celebrity,  with  a  terrible  calmness.  The  Frac 
tion  was  a  man  of  the  world. 

"  Come,  come,  old  chap  !  "  he  said  soothingly, 
"  don't  cut  up.  We'll  make  things  a  little  more 
homelike  here."  And  he  pulled  a  bottle  from 
the  depths  of  the  hamper.  "  This  will  brace 
you  up." 

He  picked  up  the  hamper  and  disappeared 


200  The  Celebrity 

into  the  place  of  retention,  while  the  Celebrity 
threw  the  bottle  into  the  brush.  And  just  then 
(may  I  be  forgiven  if  I  am  imaginative !)  I  heard 
a  human  laugh  come  from  that  direction.  In 
the  casting  of  that  bottle  the  Celebrity  had 
given  vent  to  some  of  the  feelings  he  had  been 
collecting  overnight,  and  it  must  have  carried 
about  thirty  yards.  I  dived  after  it  like  a  re 
triever  puppy  for  a  stone ;  but  the  bottle  was 
gone  !  Perhaps  I  could  say  more,  but  it  doesn't 
do  to  believe  in  yourself  too  thoroughly  when 
you  get  up  early.  I  had  nothing  to  say  when  I 
returned. 

"You  here,  Crocker?"  said  the  author,  fix 
ing  his  eye  on  me.  "Deuced  kind  of  you  to 
get  up  ,so  early  and  carry  a  basket  so  far  for 
me." 

"It  has  been  a  real  pleasure,  I  assure  you," 
I  protested.  And  it  had. 

There  was  a  silent  space  while  the  two  young 
ladies  regarded  him,  softened  by  his  haggard 
and  dishevelled  aspect,  and  perplexed  by  his 
attitude.  Nothing,  I  believe,  appeals  to  a 
woman  so  much  as  this  very  lack  of  bodily 
care.  And  the  rogue  knew  it ! 

"  How  long  is  this  little  game  of  yours  to  con- 


The  Celebrity  20 1 

tinue,  —  this  bull-baiting  ?  "  he  inquired.  "  How 
long  am  I  to  be  made  a  butt  of  for  the  amuse 
ment  of  a  lot  of  imbeciles  ?  " 

Miss  Thorn  crossed  over  and  seated  herself 
on  the  ground  beside  him. 

"You  must  be  sensible,"  she  said,  in  a  tone 
that  she  might  have  used  to  a  spoiled  child. 
"  I  know  it  is  difficult  after  the  night  you  have 
had.  But  you  have  always  been  willing  to 
listen  to  reason." 

A  pang  of  something  went  through  me  when 
I  saw  them  together. 

"  Reason,"  said  the  Celebrity,  raising  his  head. 
"  Reason,  yes.  But  where  is  the  reason  in  all 
this  ?  Because  a  man  who  happens  to  be  my 
double  commits  a  crime,  is  it  right  that  J,  whose 
reputation  is  without  a  mark,  should  be  made  to 
surfer  ?  And  why  have  I  been  made  a  fool  of 
by  two  people  whom  I  had  every  cause  to  sup 
pose  my  friends  ? " 

"You  will  have  to  ask  them,"  replied  Miss 
Thorn,  with  a  glance  at  us.  "  They  are  mis 
chief-makers,  I'll  admit ;  but  they  are  not  mali 
cious.  See  what  they  have  done  this  morning ! 
And  how  could  they  have  foreseen  that  a  de 
tective  was  on  his  way  to  the  island  ? " 


2O2  The  Celebrity 

"Crocker  might  have  known  it,"  said  he, 
melting.  "He's  so  cursed  smart!" 

"And  think,"  Miss  Thorn  continued,  quick 
to  follow  up  an  advantage,  "  think  what  would 
have  happened  if  they  hadn't  denied  you.  This 
horrid  man  would  have  gone  off  with  you  to 
Asquith  or  somewhere  else,  with  handcuffs  on 
your  wrists ;  for  it  isn't  a  detective's  place  to 
take  evidence,  Mr.  Crocker  says.  Perhaps  we 
should  all  have  had  to  go  to  Epsom !  And 
I  couldn't  benr  to  see  you  in  handcuffs,  you 
know." 

"  Don't  you  think  we  had  better  leave  them 
alone  ? "  I  said  to  Miss  Trevor. 

She  smiled  and  shook  her  head. 

"You  are  blind  as  a  bat,  Mr.  Crocker,"  she 
said. 

The  Celebrity  had  weighed  Miss  Thorn's 
words  and  was  listening  passively  now  while 
she  talked.  There  may  be  talents  which  she 
did  not  possess  ;  I  will  not  pretend  to  say.  But 
I  know  there  are  many  professions  she  might 
have  chosen  had  she  not  been  a  woman.  She 
would  have  made  a  name  for  herself  at  the  bar ; 
as  a  public  speaker  she  would  have  excelled. 
And  had  I  not  been  so  long  accustomed  to 


The  Celebrity  203 

picking  holes  in  arguments  I  am  sure  I  should 
not  have  perceived  the  fallacies  of  this  she  was 
making  for  the  benefit  of  the  Celebrity.  He 
surely  did  not.  It  is  strange  how  a  man  can 
turn  under  such  influence  from  one  feeling  to 
another.  The  Celebrity  lost  his  resentment ; 
apprehension  took  its  place.  He  became  more 
and  more  nervous  ;  questioned  me  from  time  to 
time  on  the  law ;  wished  to  know  whether  he 
would  be  called  upon 'for  testimony  at  Allen's 
trial ;  whether  there  was  any  jsenalty  attached 
to  the  taking  of  another  man's  name  ;  precisely 
what  Drew  would  do  with  him  if  captured ;  and 
the  tail  of  his  eye  was  on  the  thicket  as  he  made 
this  inquiry.  It  may  be  surmised  that  I  took 
an  exquisite  delight  in  quenching  this  new-born 
thirst  for  knowledge.  And  finally  we  all  went 
into  the  cave. 

Miss  Thorn  unpacked  the  things  we  had 
brought,  while  I  surveyed  the  cavern.  It  was 
in  the  solid  rock,  some  ten  feet  high  and  irregu 
lar  in  shape,  and  perfectly  dry.  It  was  a  mar 
vel  to  me  how  cosy  she  made  it.  One  of  the 
Maria  s  lanterns  was  placed  in  a  niche,  and  the 
Celebrity's  silver  toilet-set  laid  out  on  a  ledge 
of  the  rock,  which  answered  perfectly  for  a 


204  The  Celebrity 

dressing-table.  Miss  Thorn  had  not  forgotten 
a  small  mirror.  And  as  a  last  office,  set  a  dainty 
breakfast  on  a  linen  napkin  on  the  rock,  heating 
the  coffee  in  a  chafing-dish. 

"  There  ! "  she  exclaimed,  surveying  her  labors, 
"I  hope  you  will  be  more  comfortable." 

He  had  already  taken  the  precaution  to  brush 
his  hair  and  pull  himself  together.  His  thanks, 
such  as  they  were,  he  gave  to  Miss  Thorn.  It  is 
true  that  she  had  done  more  than  any  one  else. 

"Good-bye,  old  boy!"  said  the  Fraction. 
"We'll  come  back  when  we  get  the  chance, 
and  don't  let  that  hundred  thousand  keep  you 
awake." 

The  Fraction  and  I  covered  up  the  mouth  of 
the  cave  with  brush.  He  became  confidential. 

"  Lucky  dog,  Allen  ! "  he  said.  "  They'll  never 
get  him  away  from  Cooke.  And  he  can  have 
any  girl  he  wants  for  the  asking.  By  George! 
I  believe  Miss  Thorn  will  elope  with  him  if  he 
ever  reaches  Canada." 

I  only  mention  this  as  a  sample  of  the  Frac 
tion's  point  of  view.  I  confess  the  remark  an 
noyed  me  at  the  time. 

Miss  Thorn  lingered  in  the  cave  for  a  minute 
after  Miss  Trevor  came  out.  Then  we  retraced 


The  Celebrity  205 

our  way  down  the  brook,  which  was  dancing 
now  in  the  sunlight.  Miss  Trevor  stopped  now 
and  then  to  rest,  in  reality  to  laugh.  I  do  not 
know  what  the  Fraction  thought  of  such  heart 
less  conduct.  He  and  I  were  constantly  on  the 
alert  for  Mr.  Drew,  but  we  sighted  the  camp 
without  having  encountered  him.  It  was  half- 
past  six,  and  we  had  trusted  to  slip  in  unnoticed 
by  any  one.  But,  as  we  emerged  from  the 
trees,  the  bustling  scene  which  greeted  our 
eyes  filled  us  with  astonishment.  Two  of  the 
tents  were  down,  and  the  third  in  a  collapsed 
condition,  while  confusion  reigned  supreme. 
And  in  the  midst  of  it  all  stood  Mr.  Cooke, 
an  animated  central  figure  pedestalled  on  a 
stump,  giving  emphatic  directions  in  a  voice 
of  authority.  He  spied  us  from  his  elevated 
position  before  we  had  crossed  the  brook. 

"  Here  they  come,  Maria,"  he  shouted. 

We  climbed  to  the  top  of  the  slope,  and 
were  there  confronted  by  Mrs.  Cooke  and  Mr. 
Trevor,  with  Mr.  Cooke  close  behind  them. 

"  Where  the  devil  is  Allen  ? "  my  client  de 
manded  excitedly  of  the  Fraction. 

"  Allen  ?  "  repeated  that  gentleman,  "  why, 
we  made  him  comfortable  and  left  him,  of 


206  The  Celebrity 

course.  We  had  sense  enough  not  to  bring 
him  here  to  be  pulled." 

"  But,  you  damfool,"  cried  Mr.  Cooke,  slightly 
forgetting  himself,  "  Drew  has  escaped." 

"  Escaped  ? " 

"  Yes,  escaped,"  said  Mr.  Cooke,  as  though 
our  conductor  were  personally  responsible  ;  "  he 
got  away  this  morning.  Before  we  know  it, 
we'll  have  the  whole  police  force  of  Far  Harbor 
out  here  to  jug  the  lot  of  us." 

The  Fraction,  being  deficient  for  the  moment 
in  language  proper  to  express  his  appreciation  of 
this  new  development,  simply  volunteered  to  re 
turn  for  the  Celebrity,  and  left  in  a  great  hurry. 

"  Irene,"  said  Mr.  Trevor,  "  can  it  be  possi 
ble  that  you  have  stolen  away  for  the  express 
purpose  of  visiting  this  criminal  ?  " 

"If  he  is  a  criminal,  father,  it  is  no  reason 
that  he  should  starve." 

"  It  is  no  reason,"  cried  her  father,  hotly, 
"why  a  young  girl  who  has  been  brought  up 
as  you  have,  should  throw  every  lady-like  in 
stinct  to  the  winds.  There  are  men  enough 
in  this  camp  to  keep  him  from  starving.  I 
will  not  have  my  daughter's  name  connected 
with  that  of  a  defaulter.  Irene,  you  have  set 


The  Celebrity  207 

the  seal  of  disgrace  upon  a  name  which  I  have 
labored  for  a  lifetime  to  make  one  of  the  proud 
est  in  the  land.  And  it  was  my  fond  hope  that 
I  possessed  a  daughter  who  —  " 

During  this  speech  my  anger  had  been 
steadily  rising.  But  it  was  Mrs.  Cooke  who 
interrupted  him. 

"  Mr.  Trevor,"  said  she,  "  perhaps  you  are 
not  aware  that  while  you  are  insulting  your 
daughter,  you  are  also  insulting  my  niece.  It 
may  be  well  for  you  to  know  that  Miss  Trevor 
still  has  my  respect  as  a  woman  and  my  admira 
tion  as  a  lady.  And,  since  she  has  been  so 
misjudged  by  her  father,  she  has  my  deepest 
sympathy.  But  I  wish  to  beg  of  you,  if  you 
have  anything  of  this  nature  to  say  to  her,  you 
will  take  her  feelings  into  consideration  as  well 
as  ours." 

Miss  Trevor  gave  her  one  expressive  look  of 
gratitude.  The  senator  was  effectually  silenced. 
He  had  come,  by  some  inexplicable  inference, 
to  believe  that  Mrs.  Cooke,  while  subservient 
to  the  despotic  will  of  her  husband,  had  been 
miraculously  saved  from  depravity,  and  had  set 
her  face  against  this  last  monumental  act  of 
outlawry. 


CHAPTER    XV 

I  AM  convinced  that  Mr.  Cooke  possessed  at 
least  some  of  the  qualities  of  a  great  general. 
In  certain  campaigns  of  past  centuries,  and 
even  of  this,  it  has  been  hero-worship  that  im 
pelled  the  rank  and  file  rather  than  any  high 
sympathy  with  the  cause  they  were  striving 
for.  And  so  it  was  with  us  that  morning. 
Our  commander  was  everywhere  at  once,  en 
couraging  us  to  work,  and  holding  over  us  in 
impressive  language  the  awful  alternative  of 
capture.  For  he  had  the  art,  in  a  high  degree, 
of  inoculating  his  followers  with  the  spirit  which 
animated  him  ;  and  shortly,  to  my  great  sur 
prise,  I  found  myself  working  as  though  my 
life  depended  on  it.  I  certainly  did  not  care 
very  much  whether  the  Celebrity  was  captured 
or  not,  and  yet,  with  the  prospect  of  getting 
him  over  the  border,  I  had  not  thought  of 
breakfast.  Farrar  had  a  natural  inclination  for 
work  of  this  sort,  but  even  he  was  infused 
somewhat  with  the  contagious  haste  and  en- 
208 


The  Celebrity  209 

thusiasm  which  filled  the  air ;  and  together  we 
folded  the  tents  with  astonishing  despatch  and 
rowed  them  out  to  the  Maria,  Mr.  Cooke  hav 
ing  gone  to  his  knees  in  the  water  to  shove  the 
boat  off. 

"What  are  we  doing  this  for?"  said  Farrar 
to  me,  as  we  hoisted  the  sail. 

We  both  laughed. 

"I  have  just  been  asking  myself  that  ques 
tion,"  I  replied. 

"You  are  a  nice  district  attorney,  Crocker," 
he  said.  "  You  have  made  a  most  proper  and 
equitable  decision  in  giving  your  consent  to 
Allen's  escape.  Doesn't  your  conscience  smart?" 

"  Not  unbearably.  I'll  tell  you  what,  Farrar," 
said  I,  "the  truth  is,  that  this  fellow  never  em 
bezzled  so  much  as  a  ten-cent  piece.  He  isn't 
guilty  :  he  isn't  the  man." 

"  Isn't  the  man  ?  "  repeated  Farrar. 

"No,"  I  answered;  "it's  a  long  tale,  and  no 
time  to  tell  it  now.  But  he  is  really,  as  he 
claims  to  be,  the  author  of  all  those  detestable 
books  we  have  been  hearing  so  much  of." 

"The  deuce  he  is!"  exclaimed  Farrar,  drop 
ping  the  stopper  he  was  tying.  "  Did  he  write 
The  Sybarites?" 


210  The  Celebrity 

"  Yes,  sir ;  he  wrote  The  Sybarites,  and  all 
the  rest  of  that  trash." 

"  He's  the  fellow  that  maintains  a  man  ought 
to  marry  a  girl  after  he  has  become  engaged  to 
her." 

"  Exactly,"  I  said,  smiling  at  his  way  of  put 
ting  it. 

"  Preaches  constancy  to  all  men,  but  doesn't 
object  to  stealing." 

I  laughed. 

"You're  badly  mixed,"  I  explained.  "I  told 
you  he  never  stole  anything.  He  was  only  ass 
enough  to  take  the  man's  name  who  is  the 
living  image  of  him.  And  the  other  man  took 
the  bonds." 

"Oh,  come  now,"  said  he,  "tell  me  some 
thing  improbable  while  you  are  about  it." 

"  It's  true,"  I  replied,  repressing  my  mirth  ; 
"true  as  the  tale  of  Timothy.  I  knew  him 
when  he  was  a  mere  boy.  But  I  don't  give  you 
that  as  a  proof,  for  he  might  have  become  all 
things  to  all  men  since.  Ask  Miss  Trevor ;  or 
Miss  Thorn  ;  she  knows  the  other  man,  the 
bicycle  man,  and  has  seen  them  both  together." 

"Where,  in  India?  Was  one  standing  on 
the  ground  looking  at  his  double  go  to  heaven  ? 


The  Celebrity  21 1 

Or  was  it  a':  one  of  those  drawing-room  shows 
where  a  medium  holds  conversation  with  your 
soul,  while  your  body  sleeps  on  the  lounge  ? 
By  George,  Crocker,  I  thought  you  were  a 
sensible  man." 

No  wonder  I  got  angry.  But  I  might  have 
come  at  some  proper  estimation  of  Farrar's 
incredulity  by  that  time. 

"  I  suppose  you  wouldn't  take  a  lady's  word," 
I  growled. 

"  Not  for  that,"  he  said,  busy  again  with  the 
sail  stops;  "nor  St.  Chrysostom's,  were  he  to 
come  here  and  vouch  for  it.  It  is  too  damned 
improbable." 

"  Stranger  things  than  that  have  happened," 
I  retorted,  fuming. 

"  Not  to  any  of  us,"  he  said.  Presently  he 
added,  chuckling :  "  He'd  better  not  get  into 
the  clutches  of  that  man  Drew." 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  "  I  demanded.  Farrar 
was  exasperating  at  times. 

"  Drew  will  wind  those  handcuffs  on  him  like 
tourniquets,"  he  laughed. 

There  seemed  to  be  something  behind  this 
remark,  but  before  I  could  inquire  into  it  we 
were  interrupted  by  Mr.  Cooke,  who  was  stand- 


212  The  Celebrity 

ing  on  the  beach,  swearing  and  gesticulating  for 
the  boat. 

"  I  trust,"  said  Farrar,  as  we  rowed  ashore, 
"  that  this  blind  excitement  will  continue,  and 
that  we  shall  have  the  extreme  pleasure  of  set 
ting  down  our  friend  in  Her  Majesty's  domin 
ions  with  a  yachting-suit  and  a  ham  sandwich." 

We  sat  down  to  a  hasty  breakfast,  in  the 
middle  of  which  the  Celebrity  arrived.  His 
appearance  was  unexceptionable,  but  his  heavy 
jaw  was  set  in  a  manner  which  should  have 
warned  Mr.  Cooke  not  to  trifle  with  him. 

"  Sit  down,  old  man,  and  take  a  bite  before 
we  start  for  Canada,"  said  my  client. 

The  Celebrity  walked  up  to  him. 

"  Mr.  Cooke,"  he  began  in  a  menacing  tone, 
"it  is  high  time  this  nonsense  was  ended.  I 
am  tired  of  being  made  a  buffoon  of  for  your 
party.  For  your  gratification  I  have  spent  a 
sleepless  night  in  those  cold,  damp  woods  ;  and 
I  warn  you  that  practical  joking  can  be  carried 
too  far.  I  will  not  go  to  Canada,  and  I  insist 
that  you  sail  me  back  to  Asquith." 

Mr.  Cooke  winked  significantly  in  our  direc 
tion  and  tapped  his  head. 

"  I   don't   wonder  you're  a   little   upset,   old 


The  Celebrity  213 

man,"  he  said,  humoringly  patting  him;  "but 
sit  down  for  a  bite  of  something,  and  you'll  see 
things  differently." 

"  I've  had  my  breakfast,"  he  said,  taking  out 
,a  cigarette. 

Then  Mr.  Trevor  got  up. 

"  He  demands,  sir,  to  be  delivered  over  to 
the  authorities,"  said  he,  "and  you  have  no 
right  to  refuse  him.  I  protest  strongly." 

"  And  you  can  protest  all  you  damn  please," 
retorted  my  client ;  "this  isn't  the  Ohio  State 
Senate.  Do  you  know  where  I  would  put  you, 
Mr.  Trevor  ?  Do  you  know  where  you  ought 
to  be  ?  In  a  hen-coop,  sir,  if  I  had  one  here.  In 
a  hen-coop.  What  would  you  do  if  a  man  who 
had  gone  a  little  out  of  his  mind  asked  you  for 
a  gun  to  shoot  himself  with  ?  Give  it  him,  I 
suppose.  But  I  put  Mr.  Allen  ashore  in 
Canada,  with  the  funds  to  get  off  with,  and 
then  my  duty's  done." 

This  speech,  as  Mr.  Cooke  had  no  doubt  con 
fidently  hoped,  threw  the  senator  into  a  frenzy 
of  wrath. 

"The  day  will  come,  sir,"  he  shouted,  shak 
ing  his  fist  at  my  client,  "the  day  will  come 
when  you  will  rue  this  bitterly." 


214  The  Celebrity 

"  Don't  get  off  any  of  your  oratorical  frills  on 
me,"  replied  Mr.  Cooke,  contemptuously;  "you 
ought  to  be  tied  and  muzzled." 

Mr.  Trevor  was  white  with  anger. 

"  I,  for  one,  will  not  go  to  Canada,"  he  cried. 

"You'll  stay  here  and  starve,  then,"  said  Mr. 
Cooke;  "damned  little  I  care." 

Mr.  Trevor  turned  to  Farrar,  who  was  biting 
his  lip. 

"  Mr.  Farrar,  I  know  you  to  be  a  rising  young 
man  of  sound  principles,  and  Mr.  Crocker  like 
wise.  You  are  the  only  ones  who  can  sail. 
Have  you  reflected  that  you  are  about  to  ruin 
your  careers  ? " 

"We  are  prepared  to  take  the  chances,  I 
think,"  said  Farrar. 

Mr.  Cooke  looked  us  over,  proudly  and  grate 
fully,  as  much  as  to  say  that  while  he  lived  we 
should  not  lack  the  necessities  of  life. 

At  nine  we  embarked,  the  Celebrity  and  Mr. 
Trevor  for  the  same  reason  that  the  animals 
took  to  the  ark, — because  they  had  to.  There 
was  a  spanking  breeze  in  the  west-northwest, 
and  a  clear  sky,  a  day  of  days  for  a  sail.  Mr. 
Cooke  produced  a  map,  which  Farrar  and  I  con 
sulted,  and  without  much  trouble  we  hit  upon  a 


The  Celebrity  21$ 

quiet  place  to  land  on  the  Canadian  side.  Our 
course  was  north-northwest,  and  therefore  the 
wind  enabled  us  to  hold  it  without  much  trouble. 
Bear  Island  is  situated  some  eighteen  miles  from 
shore,  and  about  equidistant  between  Asquith 
and  Far  Harbor,  which  latter  we  had  to  pass 
on  our  way  northward. 

Although  a  brisk  sea  was  on,  the  wind  had 
been  steady  from  that  quarter  all  night,  and  the 
motion  was  uniform.  The  Maria  was  an  excel 
lent  sea-boat.  There  was  no  indication,  there 
fore,  of  the  return  of  that  malady  which  had 
been  so  prevalent  on  the  passage  to  Bear  Island. 
Mr.  Cooke  had  never  felt  better,  and  looked 
every  inch  a  sea-captain  in  his  natty  yachting- 
suit.  He  had  acquired  a  tan  on  the  island ; 
and,  as  is  eminently  proper  on  a  boat,  he 
affected  nautical  manners  and  nautical  ways. 
But  his  vernacular  savored  so  hopelessly  of  the 
track  and  stall  that  he  had  been  able  to  acquire 
no  mastery  over  the  art  of  marine  invective. 
And  he  possessed  not  so  much  as  one  maritime 
oath.  As  soon  as  we  had  swung  clear  of  the 
cove  he  made  for  the  weather  stays,  where  he 
assumed  a  posture  not  unlike  that  in  the  famous 
picture  of  Farragut  ascending  Mobile  Bay.  His 


216  The  Celebrity 

leather  case  was  swung  over  his  shoulder,  and 
with  his  glasses  he  swept  the  lake  in  search  of 
the  Scimitar  and  other  vessels  of  a  like  unami- 
able  character. 

Although  my  client  could  have  told  you,  off 
hand,  Jackstraw's  last  mile  in  a  bicycle  sulky,  his 
notion  of  the  Scimitar  s  speed  was  as  vague  as 
his  knowledge  of  seamanship.  And  when  I 
informed  him  that  in  all  probability  she  had 
already  passed  the  light  on  Far  Harbor  reef, 
some  nine  miles  this  side  of  the  Far  Harbor 
police  station,  he  went  into  an  inordinate  state 
of  excitement.  Mr.  Cooke  was,  indeed,  that  day 
the  embodiment  of  an  unselfish  if  misdirected 
zeal.  He  was  following  the  dictates  of  both 
heart  and  conscience  in  his  endeavor  to  rescue 
his  guest  from  the  law  ;  and  true  zeal  is  inva 
riably  contagious.  What  but  such  could  have 
commanded  the  unremitting  labors  of  that  morn 
ing  ?  Farrar  himself  had  done  three  men's  work 
before  breakfast,  and  it  was,  in  great  part,  owing 
to  him  that  we  were  now  leaving  the  island  be 
hind  us.  He  was  sailing  the  Maria  that  clay  as 
she  will  never  be  sailed  again  :  her  lee  gunwale 
awash,  and.  a  wake  like  a  surveyor's  line  behind 
her.  More  than  once  I  called  to  mind  his  face- 


The  Celebrity  217 

tious  observation  about  Mr.  Drew,  and  won 
dered  if  he  knew  more  than  he  had  said  about 
the  detective. 

Once  in  the  open,  the  Maria  showed  but  small 
consideration  for  her  passengers,  for  she  went 
through  the  seas  rather  than  over  them.  And 
Mr.  Cooke,  manfully  keeping  his  station  on  the 
weather  bow,  likewise  went  through  the  seas. 
No  argument  could  induce  him  to  leave  the 
post  he  had  thus  heroically  chosen,  which  was 
one  of  honor  rather  than  utility,  for  the  lake 
was  as  vacant  of  sails  as  the  day  that  Father 
Marquette  (or  some  one  else)  first  beheld  it. 
Under  such  circumstances  ease  must  be  con 
sidered  as  only  a  relative  term  ;  and  the  ac 
commodations  of  the  Maria  afforded  but  two 
comfortable  spots,  —  the  cabin,  and  the  lea  aft 
of  the  cabin  bulkhead.  This  being  the  case, 
the  somewhat  peculiar  internal  relations  of  the 
party  decided  its  grouping. 

I  know  of  no  worse  place  than  a  small  yacht, 
or  than  a  large  one  for  that  matter,  for  uncon 
genial  people..  The  Four  betook  themselves  to 
the  cabin,  which  was  fortunately  large,  and 
made  life  bearable  with  a  game  of  cards  ;  while 
Mrs.  Cooke,  whose  adaptability  and  sense  I  had 


218  The  Celebrity 

come  greatly  to  admire,  contented  herself  with 
a  corner  and  a  book.  The  ungrateful  cause  of 
the  expedition  himself  occupied  another  corner. 
I  caught  sight  of  him  through  the  cabin  sky 
light,  and  the  silver  pencil  he  was  holding  over 
his  note-book  showed  unmistakable  marks  of 
teeth. 

Outside,  Mr.  Trevor,  his  face  wearing  an  im 
mutable  expression  of  defiance  for  the  wicked 
ness  surrounding  him,  had  placed  his  daughter 
for  safe-keeping  between  himself  and  the  only 
other  reliable  character  on  board,  —  the  refrig 
erator.  But  Miss  Thorn  appeared  in  a  blue 
mackintosh  and  a  pair  of  heavy  yachting-boots, 
courting  rather  than  avoiding  a  drenching. 
Even  a  mackintosh  is  becoming  to  some 
women.  All  morning  she  sat  behind  Mr. 
Cooke,  on  the  rise  of  the  cabin,  her  back 
against  the  mast  and  her  hair  flying  in  the 
wind,  and  I,  for  one,  was  not  sorry  the  Celeb 
rity  had  given  us  this  excuse  for  a  sail. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

ABOUT  half-past  eleven  Mr.  Cooke's  vigilance 
was  rewarded  by  a  glimpse  of  the  lighthouse  on 
Far  Harbor  reef,  and  almost  simultaneously  he 
picked  up,  to  the  westward,  the  ragged  outline 
of  the  house-tops  and  spires  of  the  town  itself. 
But  as  we  neared  the  reef  the  harbor  appeared 
as  quiet  as  a  Sunday  morning  :  a  few  Mackinaws 
were  sailing  hither  and  thither,  and  the  Far 
Harbor  and  Beaverton  boat  was  coming  out. 
My  client,  in  view  of  the  peaceful  aspect  affairs 
had  assumed,  presently  consented  to  relinquish 
his  post,  and  handed  the  glasses  over  to  me 
with  an  injunction  to  be  watchful. 

I  promised.  And  Mr.  Cooke,  feeling  his  way 
aft  with  more  discretion  than  grace,  finally  de 
scended  into  the  cabin,  where  he  was  noisily 
received.  And  I  was  left  with  Miss  Thorn. 
While  my  client  had  been  there  in  front  of  us, 
his  lively  conversation  and  nai've  if  profane  re 
marks  kept  us  in  continual  laughter.  When 
with  him  it  was  utterly  impossible  to  see  any 
219 


220  The  Celebrity 

other  than  the  ludicrous  side  of  this  madcap 
adventure,  albeit  he  himsvlf  was  so  keenly  in 
earnest  as  to  its  performance.  It  was  with  mis 
giving  that  I  saw  him  disappear  into  the  hatch 
way,  and  my  impulse  was  to  follow  him.  Our 
spirits,  like  those  in  a  thermometer,  are  never 
stationary  :  mine  were  continually  being  sent  up 
or  down.  The  night  before,  when  I  had  sat 
with  Miss  Thorn  beside  the  fire,  they  went  up ; 
this  morning  her  anxious  solicitude  for  the  Ce 
lebrity  had  sent  them  down  again.  She  both 
puzzled  and  vexed  me.  I  could  not  desert  my 
post  as  lookout,  and  I  remained  in  somewhat 
awkward  suspense  as  to  what  she  was  going 
to  say,  gazing  at  distant  objects  through  the 
glasses.  Her  remark,  when  it  came,  took  me 
by  surprise. 

"  I  am  afraid,"  she  said  seriously,  "that  Uncle 
Fenelon's  principles  are  not  all  that  they  should 
be.  His  morality  is  something  like  his  tobacco, 
which  doesn't  injure  him  particularly,  but  is 
dangerous  to  others." 

I  was  more  than  willing  to  meet  her  on  the 
neutral  ground  of  Uncle  Fenelon. 

"  Do  you  think  his  principles  contagious  ?  "  I 
asked 


The  Celebrity  221 

"  They  have  not  met  with  the  opposition  they 
deserve,"  she  replied.  "  Uncle  Fenelon's  ideas 
of  life  are  not  those  of  other  men,  —  yours,  for 
instance.  And  his  affairs,  mental  and  material, 
are,  happily  for  him,  such  that  he  can  generally 
carry  out  his  notions  with  small  inconvenience. 
He  is  no  doubt  convinced  that  he  is  acting  gen 
erously  in  attempting  to  rescue  the  Celebrity 
from  a  term  in  prison  ;  what  he  does  not  realize 
is  that  he  is  acting  ungenerously  to  other  guests 
who  have  infinitely  more  at  stake." 

"  But  our  friend  from  Ohio  has  done  his  best 
to  impress  this  upon  him,"  I  replied,  failing  to 
perceive  her  drift ;  "  and  if  his  words  are  wasted, 
surely  the  thing  is  hopeless." 

"  I  am  not  joking,"  said  she.  "  I  was  not 
thinking  of  Mr.  Trevor,  but  of  you.  I  like  you, 
Mr.  Crocker.  You  may  not  believe  it,  but  I  do." 

For  the  life  of  me  I  could  think  of  no  fitting 
reply  to  this  declaration.  Why  was  that  abomi 
nable  word  "  like "  ever  put  into  the  English 
language  ? 

"Yes,  I  like  you,"  she  continued  medita 
tively,  "  in  the  face  of  the  fact  that  you  persist 
in  disliking  me." 

"Nothing  of  the  kind." 


222  The  Celebrity 

"  Oh,  I  know.  You  mustn't  think  me  so 
stupid  as  all  that.  It  is  a  mortifying  truth  that 
I  like  you,  and  that  you  have  no  use  for  me." 

I  have  never  known  how  to  take  a  jest  from 
a  woman.  I  suppose  I  should  have  laughed  this 
off.  Instead,  I  made  a  fool  of  myself. 

"I  shall  be  as  frank  with  you,"  I  said,  "and 
declare  that  I  like  you,  though  I  should  be  much 
happier  if  I  didn't." 

She  blushed  at  this,  if  I  am  not  mistaken. 
Perhaps  it  was  unlocked  for. 

"  At  any  rate,"  she  went  on,  "  I  should  deem 
it  my  duty  to  warn  you  of  the  consequences  of 
this  joke  of  yours.  They  may  not  be  all  that 
you  have  anticipated.  The  consequences  for 
you,  I  mean,  which  you  do  not  seem  to  have 
taken  into  account." 

"  Consequences  for  me  !  "  I  exclaimed. 

"  I  fear  that  you  will  think  what  I  am  going 
to  say  uncalled  for,  and  that  I  am  meddling  with 
something  that  does  not  concern  me.  But  it 
seems  to  me  that  you  are  undervaluing  the  thing 
you  have  worked  so  hard  to  attain.  They  say 
that  you  have  ability,  that  you  have  acquired  a 
practice  and  a  position  which  at  your  age  give 
the  highest  promise  for  the  future.  That  you 


The  Celebrity  22$ 

are  to  be  counsel  for  the  railroad.  In  short,  that 
you  are  the  coming  man  in  this  section  of  the 
state.  I  have  found  this  out,"  said  she,  cutting 
short  my  objections,  "in  spite  of  the  short  time 
I  have  been  here." 

"  Nonsense !  "  I  said,  reddening  in  my  turn. 

"  Suppose  that  the  Celebrity  is  captured,"  she 
continued,  thrusting  her  hands  into  the  pockets 
of  her  mackintosh.  "  It  appears  that  he  is 
shadowed,  and  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  expect 
that  we  shall  be  chased  before  the  day  is  over. 
Then  we  shall  be  caught  red-handed  in  an 
attempt  to  get  a  criminal  over  the  border. 
Please  wait  until  I  have  finished,"  she  said, 
holding  up  her  hand  at  an  interruption  I  was 
about  to  make.  "  You  and  I  know  he  is  not 
a  criminal ;  but  he  might  as  well  be  as  far  as 
you  are  concerned.  As  district  attorney  you 
are  doubtless  known  to  the  local  authorities. 
If  the  Celebrity  is  arrested  after  a  long  pursuit, 
it  will  avail  you  nothing  to  affirm  that  you  knew 
all  along  he  was  the  noted  writer.  You  will 
pardon  me  if  I  say  that  they  will  not  believe 
you  then.  He  will  be  taken  East  for  identifica 
tion.  And  if  I  know  anything  about  politics, 
and  especially  the  state  of  affairs  in  local  poll- 


224  The  Celebrity 

tics  with  which  you  are  concerned,  the  incident 
and  the  interval  following  it  will  be  fatal  to  your 
chances  with  the  railroad, — to  your  chances  in 
general.  You  perceive,  Mr.  Crocker,  how  im 
possible  it  is  to  play  with  fire  without  being 
burned." 

I  did  perceive.  At  the  time  the  amazing 
thoroughness  with  which  she  had  gone  into 
the  subject  of  my  own  unimportant  affairs,  the 
astuteness  and  knowledge  of  the  world  she  had 
shown,  and  the  clearness  with  which  she  had 
put  the  situation,  did  not  strike  me.  Nothing 
struck  me  but  the  alarming  sense  of  my  own 
stupidity,  which  was  as  keen  as  I  have  ever  felt 
it.  What  man  in  a  public  position,  however 
humble,  has  not  political  enemies  ?  The  image 
of  O'Meara  was  wafted  suddenly  before  me, 
disagreeably  near,  and  his  face  wore  the  smile 
of  victory.  All  of  Mr.  Cooke's  money  could 
not  save  me.  My  spirits  sank  as  the  immedi 
ate  future  unfolded  itself,  and  I  even  read  the 
article  in  O'Meara's  organ,  the  Northern  Lights, 
which  was  to  be  instrumental  in  divesting  me 
of  my  public  trust  and  fair  fame  generally. 
Yes,  if  the  Celebrity  was  caught  on  the  other 
side  of  Far  Harbor,  all  would  be  up  with  John 


The  Celebrity  225 

Crocker!  But  it  would  never  do  to  let  Miss 
Thorn  discover  my  discomfiture. 

"There  is  something  in  what  you  say,"  I 
replied,  with  what  bravado  I  could  muster. 

"A  little,  I  think,"  she  returned,  smiling; 
"  now,  what  I  wish  you  to  do  is  to  make 
Uncle  Fenelon  put  into  Far  Harbor.  If  he 
refuses,  you  can  go  in  in  spite  of  him,  since 
you  and  Mr.  Farrar  are  the  only  ones  who 
can  sail.  You  have  the  situation  in  your  own 
hands." 

There  was  certainly  wisdom  in  this,  also. 
But  the  die  was  cast  now,  and  pride  alone  was 
sufficient  to  hold  me  to  the  course  I  had  rashly 
begun  upon.  Pride !  What  an  awkward  thing 
it  is,  and  more  difficult  for  most  of  us  to  swal 
low  than  a  sponge. 

"  I  thank  you  for  this  interest  in  my  welfare, 
Miss  Thorn,"  I  began. 

"No  fine  speeches,  please,  sir,"  she  cut  in, 
"but  do  as  I  advise." 

"I  fear  I  cannot." 

"  Why  do  you  say  that  ?  The  thing  is  sim 
plicity  itself." 

"  I  should  lose  my  self-respect  as  a  practical 
joker.  And  besides,"  I  said  maliciously,  "  I 


226  The  Celebrity 

started  out  to  have  some  fun  with  the  Celebrity, 
and  I  want  to  have  it." 

"  Well,"  she  replied,  rather  coolly,  "  of  course 
you  can  do  as  you  choose." 

We  were  passing  within  a  hundred  yards  of 
the  lighthouse,  set  cheerlessly  on  the  bald  and 
sandy  tip  of  the  point.  An  icy  silence  sat 
between  us,  and  such  a  silence  is  invariably 
insinuating.  This  one  suggested  a  horrible 
thought.  What  if  Miss  Thorn  had  warned 
me  in  order  to  save  the  Celebrity  from  humil 
iation  ?  I  thrust  it  aside,  but  it  returned  again 
and  grinned.  Had  she  not  practised  insincerity 
before  ?  And  any  one  with  half  an  eye  could 
see  that  she  was  in  love  with  the  Celebrity  ; 
even  the  Fraction  had  remarked  it.  What 
more  natural  than,  with  her  cleverness,  she 
had  hit  upon  this  means  of  terminating  the 
author's  troubles  by  working  upon  my  fears  ? 

Human  weakness  often  proves  too  much  for 
those  of  us  who  have  the  very  best  intentions. 
Up  to  now  the  refrigerator  and  Mr.  Trevor  had 
kept  the  strictest  and  most  jealous  of  vigils 
over  Irene.  But  at  length  the  senator  suc 
cumbed  to  the  drowsiness  which  never  failed  to 
attack  him  at  this  hour,  and  he  forgot  the  dis- 


The  Celebrity  227 

repute  of  his  surroundings  in  a  respectable 
sleep.  Whereupon  his  daughter  joined  us  on 
the  forecastle. 

"  I  knew  that  would  happen  to  papa  if  I  only 
waited  long  enough,"  she  said.  "  Oh,  he  thinks 
you're  dreadful,  Mr.  Crocker.  He  says  that 
nowadays  young  men  haven't  any  principle.  I 
mustn't  be  seen  talking  to  you." 

"  I  have  been  trying  to  convince  Mr.  Crocker 
that  his  stand  in  the  matter  is  not  only  im 
moral,  but  suicidal,"  said  Miss  Thorn.  "  Per 
haps,"  she  added  meaningly,  "he  will  listen  to 
you." 

"  I  don't  understand,"  answered  Miss  Trevor. 

"  Miss  Thorn  has  been  good  enough  to  point 
out,"  I  explained,  "that  the  political  machine  in 
this  section,  which  has  the  honor  to  detest  me, 
will  seize  upon  the  pretext  of  the  Celebrity's 
capture  to  ruin  me.  They  will  take  the  will 
for  the  deed." 

"Of  course  they  will  do  just  that,"  cried 
Miss  Trevor.  "  How  bright  of  you  to  think  of 
it,  Marian!" 

Miss  Thorn  stood  up. 

"  I  leave  you  to  persuade  him,"  said  she  ;  "  I 
have  no  doubt  you  will  be  able  to  do  it." 


228  The  Celebrity 

With  that  she  left  us,  quite  suddenly.  Ab 
ruptly,  I  thought.  And  her  manner  seemed  to 
impress  Miss  Trevor. 

"  I  wonder  what  is  the  matter  with  Marian," 
said  she,  and  leaned  over  the  skylight.  "Why, 
she  has  gone  down  to  talk  with  the  Celebrity." 

"  Isn't  that  rather  natural?"  I  asked  with 
asperity. 

She  turned  to  me  with  an  amused  expression. 

"  Her  conduct  seems  to  worry  you  vastly, 
Mr.  Crocker.  I  noticed  that  you  were  quite 
upset  this  morning  in  the  cave.  Why  was  it  ? " 

"You  must  have  imagined  it,"  I  said  stiffly. 

"  I  should  like  to  know,"  she  said,  with  the 
air  of  one  trying  to  solve  a  knotty  problem,  "  I 
should  like  to  know  how  many  men  are  as  blind 
as  you." 

"You  are  quite  beyond  me,  Miss  Trevor," 
I  answered;  "may  I  request  you  to  put  that 
remark  in  other  words  ? " 

"  I  protest  that  you  are  a  most  unsatisfactory 
person,"  she  went  on,  not  heeding  my  annoy 
ance.  "  Most  abnormally  modest  people  are. 
If  I  were  to  stick  you  with  this  hat-pin,  for 
instance,  you  would  accept  the  matter  as  a 
positive  insult." 


The  Celebrity  229 

"I  certainly  should,"  I  said,  laughing;  "and, 
besides,  it  would  be  painful." 

"There  you  are,"  said  she,  exultingly ;  "I 
knew  it.  But  I  flatter  myself  there  are  men 
who  would  go  into  an  ecstasy  of  delight  if  I 
ran  a  hat-pin  into  them.  I  am  merely  taking 
this  as  an  illustration  of  my  point." 

"  It  is  a  very  fine  point,"  said  I.  "  But  some 
people  take  pleasure  in  odd  things.  I  can  easily 
conceive  of  a  man  gallant  enough  to  suffer  the 
agony  for  the  sake  of  pleasing  a  pretty  girl." 

"  I  told  you  so,"  she  pouted ;  "  you  have 
missed  it  entirely.  You  are  hopelessly  blind 
on  that  side,  and  numb.  Perhaps  you  didn't 
know  that  you  have  had  a  hat-pin  sticking  in 
you  for  some  time." 

I  began  feeling  myself,  nervously. 

"For  more  than  a  month,"  she  cried,  "and 
to  think  that  you  have  never  felt  it."  My 
action  was  too  much  for  her  gravity,  and  she 
fell  back  against  the  skylight  in  a  fit  of  merri 
ment,  which  threatened  to  wake  her  father. 
And  I  hoped  it  would. 

"  It  pleases  you  to  speak  in  parables  this 
morning,"  I  said. 

"  Mr.  Crocker,"  she  began  again,  when  she 


230  The  Celebrity 

had  regained  her  speech,  "  shall  I  tell  you  of  a 
great  misfortune  which  might  happen  to  a  girl?" 

"  I  should  be  pleased  to  hear  it,"  I  replied 
courteously. 

"That  misfortune,  then,  would  be  to  fall  in 
love  with  you." 

"  Happily  that  is  not  within  the  limits  of 
probability,"  I  answered,  beginning  to  be  a 
little  amused.  "  But  why  ?  " 

"Lightning  often  strikes. where  it  is  least 
expected,"  she  replied  archly.  "  Listen.  If  a 
young  woman  were  unlucky  enough  to  lose  her 
heart  to  you,  she  might  do  everything  but  tell 
you,  and  you  would  never  know  it.  I  scarcely 
believe  you  would  know  it  if  she  did  tell  you." 

I  must  have  jumped  unconsciously. 

"  Oh,  you  needn't  think  I  am  in  love  with 
you." 

"  Not  for  a  minute,"  I  made  haste  to  say. 

She  pointed  towards  the  timber-covered  hills 
beyond  the  shore. 

"  Do  you  see  that  stream  which  comes  foaming 
down  the  notch  into  the  lake  in  front  of  us  ? " 
she  asked.  "  Let  us  suppose  that  you  lived 
in  a  cabin  beside  that  brook ;  and  that  once  in 
a  while,  when  you  went  out  to  draw  your  water, 


The  Celebrity  231 

you  saw  a  nugget  of  gold  washing  along  with 
the  pebbles  on  the  bed.  How  many  days  do 
you  think  you  would  be  in  coming  to  the  con 
clusion  that  there  was  a.  pocket  of  gold  some 
where  above  you,  and  in  starting  in  search 
of  it?" 

"  Not  long,  surely." 

"  Ah,  you  are  not  lacking  in  perception  there. 
But  if  /  were  to  tell  you  that  I  knew  of  the 
existence  of  such  a  mine,  from  various  proofs  I 
have  had,  and  that  the  mine  was  in  the  posses 
sion  of  a  certain  person  who  was  quite  willing 
to  share  it  with  you  on  application,  you  would 
not  believe  me." 

"Probably  not." 

"Well,"  said  Miss  Trevor,  with  a  nod  of  final 
ity,  "  I  was  actually  about  to  make  such  a  dis 
closure.  But  I  see  it  would  be  useless." 

I  confess  she  aroused  my  curiosity.  No 
coaxing,  however,  would  induce  her  to  interpret. 

"  No,"  she  insisted  strangely,  "  if  you  cannot 
put  two  and  two  together,  I  fear  I  cannot  help 
you.  And  no  one  I  ever  heard  of  has  come  to 
any  good  by  meddling." 

Miss  Trevor  folded  her  hands  across  her  lap. 
She  wore  that  air  which  I  am  led  to  believe  is 


232  The  Celebrity 

common  to  all  women  who  have  something  of 
importance  to  disclose ;  or  at  least  what  they 
consider  is  of  importance.  There  was  an  ele 
ment  of  pity,  too,  in  her  expression.  For  she 
had  given  me  my  chance,  and  my  wits  had  been 
found  wanting. 

Do  not  let  it  be  surmised  that  I  attach  any 
great  value  to  such  banter  as  she  had  been  in 
dulging  in.  At  the  same  time,  however,  I  had 
an  uneasy  feeling  that  I  had  missed  something 
which  might  have  been  to  my  advantage.  It 
was  in  vain  that  I  whipped  my  dull  senses ;  but 
one  conclusion  was  indicated  by  all  this  infer 
ence,  and  I  don't  care  even  to  mention  that :  it 
was  preposterous. 

Then  Miss  Trevor  shifted  to  a  very  serious 
mood.  She  honestly  did  her  best  to  persuade 
me  to  relinquish  our  enterprise,  to  go  to  Mr. 
Cooke  and  confess  the  whole  thing. 

"  I  wish  we  had  washed  our  hands  of  this 
Celebrity  from  the  first,"  she  said,  with  a  sigh. 
"  How  dreadful  if  you  lose  your  position  on 
account  of  this  foolishness  !  " 

"  But  I  shan't,"  I  answered  reassuringly ; 
"  we  are  getting  near  the  border  now,  and  no 
sign  of  trouble.  And  besides,"  I  added,  "I 


The  Celebrity  233 

think  Miss  Thorn  tried  to  frighten  me.  And 
she  very  nearly  succeeded.  It  was  prettily 
done." 

"  Of  course  she  tried  to  frighten  you.  I  wish 
she  had  succeeded." 

"But  her  object  was  transparent." 

"  Her  object !  "  she  exclaimed.  "  Her  object 
was  to  save  you." 

"I  think  not,"  I  replied;  "it  was  to  save  the 
Celebrity." 

Miss  Trevor  rose  and  grasped  one  of  the  sail 
rings  to  keep  her  balance.  She  looked  at  me 
pityingly. 

"  Do  you  really  believe  that  ? " 

"Firmly." 

"  Then  you  are  hopeless,  Mr.  Crocker,  totally 
hopeless.  I  give  you  up." 

And  she  went  back  to  her  seat  beside  the 
refrigerator. 


CHAPTER    XVII 

"CROCKER,  old  man,  Crocker,  what  the  devil 
does  that  mean  ?  " 

I  turned  with  a  start  to  perceive  a  bare  head 
thrust  above  the  cabin  roof,  the  scant  hair  flying, 
and  two  large,  brown  eyes  staring  into  mine 
full  of  alarm  and  reproach.  A  plump  finger 
was  pointing  to  where  the  sandy  reef  lay  far 
astern  of  us. 

The  Mackinaws  were  flecked  far  and  wide 
over  the  lake,  and  a  dirty  smudge  on  the  blue 
showed  where  the  Far  Harbor  and  Beaverton 
boat  had  gone  over  the  horizon.  But  there, 
over  the  point  and  dangerously  close  to  the 
land,  hung  another  smudge,  gradually  pushing 
its  way  like  a  writhing,  black  serpent,  lakewards. 
Thus  I  was  rudely  jerked  back  to  face  the 
problem  with  which  we  had  left  the  island  that 
morning. 

I  snatched  the  neglected  glasses  from  the 
deck  and  hurried  aft  to  join  my  client  on  the 
overhang,  but  a  pipe  was  all  they  revealed  above 
234 


The  Celebrity  235 

the  bleak  hillocks  of  sand.  My  client  turned 
to  me  with  a  face  that  was  white  under  the  tan. 

"Crocker,"  he  cried,  in  a  tragic  voice,  "it's  a 
blessed  police  boat,  or  I  never  picked  a  winner." 

"  Nonsense,"  I  said  ;  "  other  boats  smoke  be 
side  police  boats.  The  lake  is  full  of  tugs." 

I  was  a  little  nettled  at  having  been  scared 
for  a  molehill. 

"But  I  know  it,  sure  as  hell,"  he  insisted. 

"  You  know  nothing  about  it,  and  won't  for 
an  hour.  What's  a  pipe  and  a  trail  of  smoke  ? " 

He  laid  a  hand  on  my  shoulder,  and  I  felt  it 
tremble. 

"  Why  do  you  suppose  I  came  out  ? "  he 
demanded  solemnly. 

"  You  were  probably  losing,"  I  said. 

"  I  was  winning." 

"Then  you  got  tired  of  winning." 

But  he  held  up  a  thumb  within  a  few  inches 
of  my  face,  and  with  it  a  ring  I  had  often  noticed, 
a  huge  opal  which  he  customarily  wore  on  the 
inside  of  his  hand. 

"  She's  dead,"  said  Mr.  Cooke,  sadly. 

"Dead?"  I  repeated,  perplexed. 

"Yes,  she's  dead  as  the  day  I  lost  the  two 
thousand  at  Sheepshead.  She's  never  gone 


236  The  Celebrity 

back  on  me  yet.  And  unless  I  can  make  some 
little  arrangement  with  those  fellows,"  he  added, 
tossing  his  head  at  the  smoke,  "you  and  I  will 
put  up  to-night  in  some  barn  of  a  jail.  I've 
never  been  in  jail  but  once,"  said  Mr.  Cooke, 
"  and  it  isn't  so  damned  pleasant,  I  assure 
you." 

I  saw  that  he  believed  every  word  of  it ;  in 
fact,  that  it  was  his  religion.  I  might  as  well 
have  tried  to  argue  the  Sultan  out  of  Moham 
medanism. 

The  pipe  belonged  to  a  tug,  that  was  certain. 
Farrar  said  so  after  a  look  over  his  shoulder, 
disdaining  glasses,  and  he  knew  the  lake  better 
than  many  who  made  their  living  by  it.  It  was 
then  that  I  made  note  of  a  curious  anomaly  in 
the  betting  character ;  for  thus  far  Mr.  Cooke, 
like  a  great  many  of  his  friends,  was  a  skeptic. 
He  never  ceased  to  hope  until  the  stake  had 
found  its  way  into  the  other  man's  pocket. 
And  it  was  for  hope  that  he  now  applied  to 
Farrar.  But  even  Farrar  did  not  attempt  to 
account  for  the  tug's  appearance  that  near  the 
land. 

"She's  in  some  detestable  hurry  to  get  up 
this  way,  that's  flat,"  he  said;  "where  she  is, 


The  Celebrity  237 

the  channel  out  of  the  harbor  is  not  forty  feet 
wide." 

By  this  time  the  rest  of  the  party  were  gath 
ered  behind  us  on  the  high  side  of  the  boat,  in 
different  stages  of  excitement,  scrutinizing  the 
smoke.  Mr.  Cooke  had  the  glasses  glued  to 
his  eyes  again,  his  feet  braced  apart,  and  every 
line  of  his  body  bespeaking  the  tension  of  his 
mind.  I  imagined  him  standing  thus,  the  stump 
of  his  cigar  tightly  clutched  between  his  teeth, 
following  the  fortunes  of  some  favorite  on  the 
far  side  of  the  Belmont  track. 

We  waited  without  comment  while  the  smoke 
crept  by  degrees  towards  the  little  white  spindle 
on  the  tip  of  the  point,  now  and  again  catching 
a  gleam  of  the  sun's  rays  from  off  the  glass  of 
the  lantern.  And  presently,  against  the  white 
lather  of  the  lake,  I  thought  I  caught  sight  of  a 
black  nose  pushed  out  beyond  the  land.  An 
other  moment,  and  the  tug  itself  was  bobbing 
in  the  open.  Barely  had  she  reached  the  deep 
water  beyond  the  sands  when  her  length  began 
to  shorten,  and  the  dense  cloud  of  smoke  that 
rose  made  it  plain  that  she  was  firing.  At  the 
sight  I  reflected  that  I  had  been  a  fool  indeed. 
A  scant  five  miles  of  water  lay  between  us  and 


238  The  Celebrity 

her,  and  if  they  really  meant  business  back 
there,  and  they  gave  every  sign  of  it,  we  had 
about  an  hour  and  a  half  to  get  rid  of  the  Celeb 
rity.  The  Maria  was  a  good  boat,  but  she  had 
not  been  built  to  try  conclusions  with  a  Far 
Harbor  tug. 

My  client,  in  spite  of  the  ominous  condition 
of  his  opal,  was  not  slow  to  make  his  intentions 
exceedingly  clear.  For  Mr.  Cooke  was  first 
and  last,  and  always,  a  gentleman.  After  that 
you  might  call  him  anything  you  pleased. 
Meditatively  he  screwed  up  his  glasses  and 
buckled  them  into  the  case,  and  then  he  de 
scended  to  the  cockpit.  It  was  the  Celebrity 
he  singled  out  of  the  party. 

"Allen,"  said  he,  when  he  stood  before  him, 
"  I  want  to  impress  on  you  that  my  word's  gold. 
I've  stuck  to  you  thus  far,  and  I'll  be  damned 
now  if  I  throw  you  over,  like  they  did  Jonah." 

Mr.  Cooke  spoke  with  a  fine  dignity  that  in 
itself  was  impressive,  and  when  he  had  finished 
he  looked  about  him  until  his  eye  rested  on  Mr. 
Trevor,  as  though  opposition  were  to  come  from 
that  quarter.  And  the  senator  gave  every  sign 
of  another  eruption.  But  the  Celebrity,  either 
from  lack  of  appreciation  of  my  client's  loyalty, 


The  Celebrity  239 

or  because  of  the  nervousness  which  was  begin 
ning  to  show  itself  in  his  demeanor,  despite  an 
effort  to  hide  it,  returned  no  answer.  He  turned 
on  his  heel  and  resumed  his  seat  in  the  cabin. 
Mr.  Cooke  was  visibly  affected. 

"  I'd  sooner  lose  my  whip  hand  than  go  back 
on  him  now,"  he  declared. 

Then  Vesuvius  began  to  rumble. 

"Mr.  Cooke,"  said  the  senator,  "may  I  suggest 
something  which  seems  pertinent  to  me,  though 
it  does  not  appear  to  have  occurred  to  you?" 

His  tone  was  the  calm  one  that  the  heroes 
used  in  the  Celebrity's  novels  when  they  were 
about  to  drop  on  and  annihilate  wicked  men. 

"  Certainly,  sir,"  my  client  replied  briskly, 
bringing  himself  up  on  his  way  back  to  the 
overhang. 

"You  have  announced  your  intention  of 
*  standing  by '  Mr.  Allen,  as  you  express  it. 
Have  you  reflected  that  there  are  some  others 
who  deserve  to  be  consulted  and  considered 
beside  Mr.  Allen  and  yourself?" 

Mr.  Cooke  was  puzzled  at  this  change  of 
front,  and  unused,  moreover,  to  the  veiled 
irony  of  parliamentary  expression. 

"Talk  English,  my  friend,"  said  he. 


240  The  Celebrity 

"  In  plain  words,  sir,  Mr.  Allen  is  a  criminal 
who  ought  to  be  locked  up  ;  he  is  a  menace  to 
society.  You,  who  have  a  reputation,  I  am 
given  to  understand,  for  driving  four  horses, 
have  nothing  to  lose  by  a  scandal,  while  I  have 
worked  all  my  life  for  the  little  I  have  achieved, 
and  have  a  daughter  to  think  about.  I  will 
neither  stand  by  Mr.  Allen  nor  by  you." 

Mr.  Cooke  was  ready  with  a  retort  when  the 
true  significance  of  4his  struck  him.  Things 
were  a  trifle  different  now.  The  tables  had 
turned  since  leaving  the  island,  and  the  senator 
held  it  in  his  power  to  ruin  our  one  remaining 
chance  of  escape.  Strangely  enough,  he  missed 
the  cause  of  Mr.  Cooke's  hesitation. 

"  Look  here,  old  man,"  said  my  client,  biting 
off  another  cigar,  "I'm  a  first-rate  fellow  when 
you  get  to  know  me,  and  I'd  do  the  same  for 
you  as  I'm  doing  for  Allen." 

"  I  daresay,  sir,  I  daresay,"  said  the  other,  a 
trifle  mollified  ;  "  I  don't  claim  that  you're  not 
acting  as  you  think  right." 

"I  see  it,"  said  Mr.  Cooke,  with  admirable 
humility ;  "  I  see  it.  I  was  wrong  to  haul  you 
into  this,  Trevor.  And  the  only  thing  to  con 
sider  now  is,  how  to  get  you  out  of  it." 


The  Celebrity  241 

Here  he  appeared  for  a  moment  to  be  wrapped 
in  deep  thought,  and  checked  with  his  cigar  an 
attempt  to  interrupt  him. 

"  However  you  put  it,  old  man,"  he  said  at 
last,  "we're  all  in  a  pretty  bad  hole." 

"All!"  cried  Mr.  Trevor,  indignantly. 

"  Yes,  all,"  asserted  Mr.  Cooke,  with  compos 
ure.  "There  are  the  police,  and  here  is  Allen 
as  good  as  run  down.  If  they  find  him  when 
they  get  abroad,  you  don't  suppose  they'll  swal 
low  anything  you  have  to  say  about  trying  to 
deliver  him  over.  No,  sir,  you'll  be  bagged  and 
fined  along  with  the  rest  of  us.  And  I'd  be 
damned  sorry  to  see  it,  if  I  do  say  it ;  and  I 
blame  myself  freely  for  it,  old  man.  Now  you 
take  my  advice  and  keep  your  mouth  shut,  and 
I'll  take  care  of  you.  I've  got  a  place  for 
Allen." 

During  this  somewhat  remarkable  speech  Mr. 
Trevor,  as  it  were,  blew  hot  and  cold  by  turns. 
Although  its  delivery  was  inconsiderate,  its  logic 
was  undeniable,  and  the  senator  sat  down  again 
on  the  locker,  and  was  silent.  But  I  marked 
that  off  and  on  his  fingers  would  open  and  shut 
convulsively. 

Time  alone  would  disclose  what  was  to  hap- 


242  The  Celebrity 

pen  to  us ;  in  the  interval  there  was  nothing  to 
do  but  wait.  We  had  reached  the  stage  where 
anxiety  begins  to  take  the  place  of  excitement, 
and  we  shifted  restlessly  from  spot  to  spot  and 
looked  at  the  tug.  She  was  ploughing  along 
after  us,  and  to  such  good  purpose  that  pres 
ently  I  began  to  catch  the  white  of  the  seas 
along  her  bows,  and  the  bright  red  with  which 
her  pipe  was  tipped.  Farrar  alone  seemed  to 
take  but  slight  interest  in  her.  More  than  once 
I  glanced  at  him  as  he  stood  under  me,  but  his 
eye  was  on  the  shuddering  leach  of  the  sail. 
Then  I  leaned  over. 

"  What  do  you  think  of  it  ?  "   I  asked. 

"  I  told  you  this  morning  Drew  would  have 
handcuffs  on  him  before  night,"  he  replied, 
without  raising  his  head. 

"Hang  your  joking,  Farrar;  I  know  more 
than  you  about  it." 

"Then  what's  the  use  of  asking  me?" 

"Don't  you  see  that  I'm  ruined  if  we're 
caught  ?  "  I  demanded,  a  little  warmly. 

"  No,  I  don't  see  it,"  he  replied.  "  You  don't 
suppose  I  think  you  fool  enough  to  risk  this 
comedy  if  the  man  were  guilty,  do  you  ?  I 
don't  believe  all  that  rubbish  about  his  being 


The  Celebrity  243 

the  criminal's  double,  either.  That's  something 
the  girls  got  up  for  your  benefit." 

I  ignored  this  piece  of  brutality. 

"  But  I'm  ruined  anyway." 

"How?" 

I  explained  shortly  what  I  thought  our  friend, 
O'Meara,  would  do  under  the  circumstances. 
An  inference  sufficed  Farrar. 

"  Why  didn't  you  say  something  about  this 
before  ? "  he  asked  gravely.  "  I  would  have 
put  into  Far  Harbor." 

"Because  I  didn't  think  of  it,"  I  confessed. 

Farrar  pulled  down  the  corners  of  his  mouth 
with  trying  not  to  smile. 

"  Miss  Thorn  is  a  woman  of  brains,"  he  re 
marked  gently;  "I  respect  her." 

I  wondered  by  what  mysterious  train  of  rea 
soning  he  had  arrived  at  this  conclusion.  He 
said  nothing  for  a  while,  but  toyed  with  the 
spokes  of  the  wheel,  keeping  the  wind  in  the 
sail  with  undue  nicety. 

"  I  can't  make  them  out,"  he  said,  all  at  once. 

"Then  you  believe  they're  after  us?" 

"  I  changed  the  course  a  point  or  two,  just  to 
try  them." 

"And  —  " 


244  The  Celebrity 

"And  they  changed  theirs.  Who  could  have 
informed? " 

"  Drew,  of  course,"  I  said  ;  "  who  else  ?  " 

He  laughed. 

"Drew  doesn't  know  anything  about  Allen," 
said  he ;  "and,  besides,  he's  no  more  of  a  detec 
tive  than  I  am." 

"  But  Drew  was  told  there  was  a  criminal  on 
the  island." 

"Who  told  him?" 

I  repeated  the  conversation  between  Drew 
and  Mr.  Trevor  which  I  had  overheard.  Farrar 
whistled. 

"  But  you  did  not  speak  of  that  this  morn 
ing,"  said  he. 

"No,"  I  replied,  feeling  anything  but  com 
fortable.  At  times  when  he  was  facetious  as 
he  had  been  this  morning  I  was  wont  to  lose 
sight  of  the  fact  that  with  Farrar  the  manner 
was  not  the  man,  and  to  forget  the  warmth  of 
his  friendship.  I  was  again  to  be  reminded  of 
this. 

"Well,  Crocker,"  he  said  briefly,  "I  would 
willingly  give  up  this  year's  state  contract  to 
have  known  it." 


CHAPTER    XVIII 

IT  was,  accurately  as  I  can  remember,  half 
after  noon  when  Mr.  Cooke  first  caught  the 
smoke  over  the  point,  for  the  sun  was  very 
high :  at  two  our  fate  had  been  decided.  I 
have  already  tried  to  describe  a  part  of  what 
took  place  in  that  hour  and  a  half,  although 
even  now  I  cannot  get  it  all  straight  in  my 
mind.  Races,  when  a  great  deal  is  at  stake, 
are  more  or  less  chaotic  :  a  close  four  miles  in 
a  college  eight  is  a  succession  of  blurs  with 
lucid  but  irrelevant  intervals.  The  weary 
months  of  hard  work  are  forgotten,  and  you 
are  quite  as  apt  to  think  of  your  first  velocipede, 
or  of  the  pie  that  is  awaiting  you  in  the  boat- 
house,  as  of  victory  and  defeat.  And  a  yacht 
race,  with  a  pair  of  rivals  on  your  beam,  is  very 
much  the  same. 

As  I  sat  with  my  feet  dangling  over  the  wash 
board,  I  reflected,  once  or  twice,  that  we  were 
engaged  in  a  race.  All  I  had  to  do  was  to 
245 


246  The  Celebrity 

twist  my  head  in  order  to  make  sure  of  it.  I 
also  reflected,  I  believe,  that  I  was  in  the  posi 
tion  of  a  man  who  has  bet  all  he  owns,  with 
large  odds  on  losing  either  way.  But  on  the 
whole  I  was  occupied  with  more  trivial  matters  : 
a  letter  I  had  forgotten  to  write  about  a  month's 
rent,  a  client  whose  summer  address  I  had  mis 
laid.  The  sun  was  burning  my  neck  behind 
when  a  whistle  aroused  me  to  the  realization 
that  the  tug  was  no  longer  a  toy  boat  dancing 
in  the  distance,  but  a  stern  fact  but  two  miles 
away.  There  could  be  no  mistake  now,  for  I 
saw  the  white  steam  of  the  signal  against  the 
smoke. 

I  slid  down  and  went  into  the  cabin.  The 
Celebrity  was  in  the  corner  by  the  companion- 
way,  with  his  head  on  the  cushions  and  a  book 
in  his  hand.  And  forward,  under  the  low  deck 
beams  beyond  the  skylight,  I  beheld  the  crouch 
ing  figure  of  my  client.  He  had  stripped  off 
his  coat  and  was  busy  at  some  task  on  the  floor. 

"They're  whistling  for  us  to  stop,"  I  said  to 
him. 

"  How  near  are  they,  old  man  ? "  he  asked, 
without  looking  up. 

The    perspiration    was    streaming    down    his 


The  Celebrity  247 

face,  and  he  held  a  brace  and  bit  in  his  hand. 
Under  him  was  the  trap-door  which  gave  access 
to  the  ballast  below,  and  through  this  he  had 
bored  a  neat  hole.  The  yellow  chips  were  still 
on  his  clothes. 

"They're  not  two  miles  away,"  I  answered. 
"  But  what  in  mystery  are  you  doing  there  ?  " 

But  he  only  laid  a  finger  beside  his  nose  and 
bestowed  a  wink  in  my  direction.  Then  he 
took  some  ashes  from  his  cigar,  wetted  his 
finger,  and  thus  ingeniously  removed  all  appear 
ance  of  newness  from  the  hole  he  had  made, 
carefully  cleaning  up  the  chips  and  putting 
them  in  his  pocket.  Finally  he  concealed  the 
brace  and  bit  and  opened  the  trap,  disclosing 
the  rough  stones  of  the  ballast.  I  watched  him 
in  amazement  as  he  tore  a  mattress  from  an 
adjoining  bunk  and  forced  it  through  the  open 
ing,  spreading  it  fore  and  aft  over  the  stones. 

"  Now,"  he  said,  regaining  his  feet  and  sur 
veying  the  whole  with  undisguised  satisfaction, 
"he'll  be  as  safe  there  as  in  my  new  family 
vault." 

'•But  —  "  I  began,  a  light  dawning  upon  me. 

"Allen,  old  man,"  said  Mr.  Cooke,  "come 
here." 


248  The  Celebrity 

The  Celebrity  laid  down  his  book  and  looked 
up  :  my  client  was  putting  on  his  coat. 

"  Come  here,  old  man,"  he  repeated. 

And  he  actually  came.  But  he  stopped  when 
he  caught  sight  of  the  open  trap  and  of  the 
mattress  beneath  it. 

"  How  will  that  suit  you  ? "  asked  Mr.  Cooke, 
smiling  broadly  as  he  wiped  his  face  with  an 
embroidered  handkerchief. 

The  Celebrity  looked  at  the  mattress,  then 
at  me,  and  lastly  at  Mr.  Cooke.  His  face  was 
a  study. 

"  And  you  think  I  am  going  to  get  in  there  ? " 
he  said,  his  voice  shaking. 

My  client  fell  back  a  step. 

"Why  not?"  he  demanded.  "It's  about 
your  size,  comfortable,  and  all  the  air  you 
want "  (here  Mr.  Cooke  stuck  his  finger  through 
the  bit  hole).  "Damn  me,  if  I  were  in  your 
fix,  I  wouldn't  stop  at  a  kennel." 

"Then  you're  cursed  badly  mistaken,"  said 
the  Celebrity,  going  back  to  his  corner ;  "  I'm 
tired  of  being  made  an  ass  of  for  you  and  your 
party." 

"  An  ass ! "  exclaimed  my  client,  in  proper 
indignation. 


The  Celebrity  249 

"  Yes,  an  ass,"  said  the  Celebrity.  And  he 
resumed  his  book. 

It  would  seem  that  a  student  of  human  nature, 
such  as  every  successful  writer  should  be,  might 
by*  this  time  have  arrived  at  some  conception 
of  my  client's  character,  simple  as  it  was,  and 
have  learned  to  overlook  the  slight  peculiarity 
in  his  mode  of  expressing  himself.  But  here 
the  Celebrity  fell  short.  If  my  client's  emo 
tions  were  not  pitched  in  the  same  key  as  those 
of  other  people,  who  shall  say  that  his  heart 
was  not  as  large  or  his  sympathies  as  wide  as 
many  another  philanthropist  ? 

But  Mr.  Cooke  was  an  optimist,  and  as  such 
disposed  to  look  at  the  best  side  of  his  friends 
and  ignore  the  worst  ;  if,  indeed,  he  perceived 
their  faults  at  all.  It  was  plain  to  me,  even 
now,  that  he  did  not  comprehend  the  Celebrity's 
attitude.  That  his  guest  should  reject  the  one 
hope  of  escape  left  him  was,  according  to  Mr. 
Cooke,  only  to  be  accounted  for  by  a  loss  of 
mental  balance.  Nevertheless,  his  disappoint 
ment  was  keen.  He  let  down  the  door  and 
slowly  led  the  way  out  of  the  cabin.  The 
whistle  sounded  shrilly  in  our  ears. 

Mr.  Cooke  sat  down  and  drew  a  wallet  from 


250  The  Celebrity 

his  pocket.  He  began  to  count  the  bills,  and, 
as  if  by  common  consent,  the  Four  followed 
suit.  It  was  a  task  which  occupied  some  min 
utes,  and  when  completed  my  client  produced 
a  morocco  note-book  and  a  pencil.  He  glanced 
interrogatively  at  the  man  nearest  him. 

"  Three  hundred  and  fifty." 

Mr.  Cooke  put  it  down.  It  was  entirely  a 
matter  of  course.  What  else  was  there  to  be 
done  ?  And  when  he  had  gone  the  round  of 
his  followers  he  turned  to  Farrar  and  me. 

"  How  much  are  you  fellows  equal  to  ? "  he 
asked. 

I  believe  he  did  it  because  he  felt  we  should 
resent  being  left  out :  and  so  we  should  have. 
Mr.  Cooke's  instincts  were  delicate. 

We  told  him.  Then  he  paused,  his  pencil  in 
the  air,  and  his  eyes  doubtfully  fixed  on  the 
senator.  For  all  this  time  Mr.  Trevor  had 
been  fidgeting  in  his  seat ;  but  now  he  opened 
his  long  coat,  button  by  button,  and  thrust  his 
hand  inside  the  flap.  Oh,  Falstaff ! 

"  Father,  father  !  "  exclaimed  Miss  Trevor. 
But  her  tongue  was  in  her  cheek. 

I  have  heard  it  stated  that  if  a  thoroughly 
righteous  man  were  cast  away  with  ninety  and 


The  Celebrity  251 

nine  ruffians,  each  of  the  ruffians  would  gain 
one-one-hundredth  in  virtue,  whilst  the  righteous 
man  would  sink  to  their  new  level.  I  am  not 
able  to  say  how  much  better  Mr.  Cooke's  party 
was  for  Mr.  Trevor's  company,  but  the  senator 
seemed  to  realize  that  something  serious  had 
happened  to  him,  for  his  voice  was  not  alto 
gether  steady  as  he  pronounced  the  amount  of 
his  contribution. 

"  Trevor,"  cried  Mr.  Cooke,  with  great  fervor, 
"  I  take  it  all  back.  You're  a  true,  public- 
spirited  old  sport." 

But  the  senator  had  not  yet  reached  that 
extreme  of  degradation  where  it  is  pleasurable 
to  be  congratulated  on  wickedness. 

My  client  added  up  the  figures  and  rubbed 
his  hands.  I  regret  to  say  that  the  aggregate 
would  have  bought  up  three  small  police  organi 
zations,  body  and  soul. 

"  Pull  up,  Farrar,  old  man,"  he  shouted. 

Farrar  released  the  wheel  and  threw  the 
Maria  into  the  wind.  With  the  sail  cracking 
and  the  big  boom  dodging  over  our  heads,  we 
watched  the  tug  as  she  drew  nearer  and  nearer, 
until  we  could  hear  the  loud  beating  of  her 
engines.  On  one  side  some  men  were  making 


252  The  Celebrity 

ready  to  lower  a  boat,  and  then  a  conspicuous 
figure  in  blue  stood  out  by  the  davits.  Then 
came  the  faint  tinkle  of  a  bell,  and  the  H.  Sin 
clair,  of  Far  Harbor,  glided  up  and  thrashed 
the  water  scarce  a  biscuit-throw  away. 

"  Hello,  there ! "  the  man  in  uniform  called 
out.  It  was  Captain  McCann,  chief  of  the  Far 
Harbor  police. 

Mr.  Cooke  waved  his  cigar  politely. 

"Is  that  Mr.  Cooke's  yacht,  the  Maria?" 

"The  same,"  said  Mr.  Cooke. 

"  I'm  fearing  I'll  have  to  come  aboard  you, 
Mr.  Cooke." 

"  All  right,  old  man,  glad  to  have  you,"  said 
my  client. 

This  brought  a  smile  to  McCann's  face  as 
he  got  into  his  boat.  We  were  all  standing 
in  the  cockpit,  save  the  Celebrity,  who  was  just 
inside  of  the  cabin  door.  I  had  time  to  note 
that  he  was  pale,  and  no  more :  I  must  have 
been  pale  myself.  A  few  strokes  brought  the 
chief  to  the  Maria  s  stern. 

"  It's  not  me  that  likes  to  interfere  with  a 
gent's  pleasure  party,  but  business  is  business," 
said  he,  as  he  climbed  aboard. 

My  client's  hospitality  was  oriental. 


The  Celebrity  253 

"  Make  yourself  at  home,  old  man,"  he  said, 
a  box  of  his  largest  and  blackest  cigars  in  his 
hand.  And  these  he  advanced  towards  McCann 
before  the  knot  was  tied  in  the  painter. 

Then  a  wave  of  self-reproach  swept  over  me. 
Was  it  possible  that  I,  like  Mr.  Trevor,  had 
been  deprived  of  all  the  morals  I  had  ever  pos 
sessed  ?  Could  it  be  that  the  district  attorney 
was  looking  calmly  on  while  Mr.  Cooke  wilfully 
corrupted  the  Far  Harbor  chief-of-police  ?  As 
agonizing  a  minute  as  I  ever  had  in  my  life  was 
that  which  it  took  McCann  to  survey  those 
cigars.  His  broad  features  became  broader 
still,  as  a  huge,  red  hand  was  reached  out.  I 
saw  it  close  lingeringly  over  the  box,  and  then 
Mr.  Cooke  had  struck  a  match.  The  chief 
stepped  over  the  washboard  onto  the  handsome 
turkey-red  cushions  on  the  seats,  and  thus  he 
came  face  to  face  with  me. 

"Holy  fathers!"  he  exclaimed.  ."Is  it  you 
who  are  here,  Mr.  Crocker  ? "  And  he  pulled 
off  his  cap. 

"No  other,  McCann,"  said  I,  with  what  I  be 
lieve  was  a  most  pitiful  attempt  at  braggadocio. 

McCann  began  to  puff  at  his  cigar.  Clouds 
of  smoke  came  out  of  his  face  and  floated  down 


254  The  Celebrity 

the  wind.  He  was  so  visibly  embarrassed  that 
I  gained  a  little  courage. 

"And  what  brings  you  here  ? "  I  demanded. 

He  scrutinized  me  in  perplexity. 

"  I  think  you're  guessing,  sir." 

"Never  a  guess,  McCann.  You'll  have  to 
explain  yourself." 

McCann  had  once  had  a  wholesome  respect 
for  me.  But  it  looked  now  as  if  the  bottom 
was  dropping  out  of  it. 

"Sure,  Mr.  Crocker,"  he  said,  "what  would 
you  be  doing  in  such  company  as  I'm  hunting 
for  ?  Can  it  be  that  ye' re  helping  to  lift  a 
criminal  over  the  border  ?  " 

"McCann,"  I  asked  sternly,  "what  have  you 
had  on  the  tug  ? " 

Force  of  habit  proved  too  much  for  the  man. 
He  went  back  to  the  apologetic. 

"Never  a  drop,  Mr.  Crocker.  Upon  me 
soul!" 

This  reminded  Mr.  Cooke  of  something  (be  it 
recorded)  that  he  had  for  once  forgotten.  He 
lifted  up  the  top  of  the  refrigerator.  The  chief's 
eye  followed  him.  But  I  was  not  going  to  permit 
this. 

"Now,  McCann,"  I  commenced  again,  "if  you 


The  Celebrity  255 

will  state  your  business  here,  if  you  have  any, 
I  shall  be  obliged.  You  are  delaying  Mr. 
Cooke." 

The  chief  was  seized  with  a  nervous  tremor. 
I  think  we  were  a  pair  in  that,  only  I  managed 
to  keep  mine  under.  When  it  came  to  the 
point,  and  any  bribing  was  to  be  done,  I  had 
hit  upon  a  course.  Self-respect  demanded  a 
dignity  on  my  part.  With  a  painful  indecision 
McCann  pulled  a  paper  from  his  pocket  which 
I  saw  was  a  warrant.  And  he  dropped  his 
cigar.  Mr.  Cooke  was  quick  to  give  him  an 
other. 

"Ye  come  from  Bear  Island,  Mr.  Crocker?" 
he  inquired. 

I  replied  in  the  affirmative. 

"I  hope  it's  news  I'm  telling  you,"  he  said 
soberly;  "I'm  hoping  it's  news  when  I  say  that 
I'm  here  for  Mr.  Charles  Wrexell  Allen,  —that's 
the  gentleman's  name.  He's  after  taking  a 
hundred  thousand  dollars  away  from  Boston." 
Then  he  turned  to  Mr.  Cooke.  "The  gentle 
man  was  aboard  your  boat,  sir,  when  you  left 
that  country  place  of  yours,  —  what  d'ye  call  it  ? 
—  Mohair?  Thank  you,  sir."  And  he  wiped 
the  water  from  his  brow.  "  And  they're  telling 


256  The  Celebrity 

me  he  was  on  Bear  Island  with  ye  ?  Sure,  sir, 
and  I  can't  see  why  a  gentleman  of  your  stand 
ing  would  be  wanting  to  get  him  over  the 
border.  But  I  must  do  my  duty.  Begging 
your  pardon,  Mr.  Crocker,"  he  added,  with  a 
bow  to  me. 

"  Certainly,  McCann,"  I  said. 

For  a  space  there  was  only  the  bumping  and 
straining  of  the  yacht  and  the  swish  of  the 
water  against  her  sides.  Then  the  chief  spoke 
again. 

"  It  will  be  saving  you  both  trouble  and  in- 
convanience,  Mr.  Crocker,  if  you  give  him  up, 
sir." 

What  did  the  man  mean  ?  Why  in  the  name 
of  the  law  didn't  he  make  a  move  ?  I  was  con 
scious  that  my  client  was  fumbling  in  his  clothes 
for  the  wallet ;  that  he  had  muttered  an  invita 
tion  for  the  chief  to  go  inside.  McCann  smoked 
uneasily. 

"I  don't  want  to  search  the  boat,  sir." 

At  these  words  we  all  turned  with  one  accord 
towards  the  cabin.  I  felt  Farrar  gripping  my 
arm  tightly  from  behind. 

The  Celebrity  had  disappeared! 

It  was  Mr.  Cooke  who  spoke. 


The  Celebrity  257 

"  Search  the  boat ! "  he  said,  something  be 
tween  a  laugh  and  a  cry. 

"Yes,  sir,"  the  chief  repeated  firmly.  "It's 
sorry  I  am  to  do  it,  with  Mr.  Crocker  here,  too." 

I  have  always  maintained  that  nature  had 
endowed  my  client  with  rare  gifts ;  and  the 
ease  with  which  he  now  assumed  a  part  thus 
unexpectedly  thrust  upon  him,  as  well  as  the 
assurance  with  which  he  carried  it  out,  goes 
far  to  prove  it. 

"  If  there's  anything  in  your  line  aboard, 
chief,"  he  said  blandly,  "  help  yourself !  " 

Some  of  us  laughed.  I  thought  things  a  little 
too  close  to  be  funny.  Since  the  Celebrity  had 
lost  his  nerve  and  betaken  himself  to  the  place 
of  concealment  Mr.  Cooke  had  prepared  for 
him,  the  whole  composition  of  the  affair  was 
changed.  Before,  if  McCann  had  arrested  the 
ostensible  Mr.  Allen,  my  word,  added  to  fifty 
dollars  from  my  client,  would  probably  have 
been  sufficient.  Should  he  be  found  now,  no 
district  attorney  on  the  face  of  the  earth  could 
induce  the  chief  to  believe  that  he  was  any 
other  than  the  real  criminal ;  nor  would  any 
bribe  be  large  enough  to  compensate  McCann 
for  the  consequences  of  losing  so  important 


258  The  Celebrity 

a  prisoner.  There  was  nothing  now  but  to 
carry  it  off  with  a  high  hand.  McCann  got  up. 

"  Be  your  lave,  Mr.  Crocker,"  he  said. 

"Never  you  mind  me,  McCann,"  I  replied, 
"but  you  do  what  is  right." 

With  that  he  began  his  search.  It  might 
have  been  ludicrous  if  I  had  had  any  desire 
to  laugh,  for  the  chief  wore  the  gingerly  air  of 
a  man  looking  for  a  rattlesnake  which  has  to  be 
got  somehow.  And  my  client  assisted  at  the 
inspection  with  all  the  graces  of  a  dancing- 
master.  McCann  poked  into  the  forward  lock 
ers  where  we  kept  the  stores,  —  dropping  the 
iron  lid  within  an  inch  of  his  toe,  —  and 
the  clothing-lockers  and  the  sail-lockers.  He 
reached  under  the  bunks,  and  drew  out  his 
hand  again  quickly,  as  though  he  expected  to 
be  bitten.  And  at  last  he  stood  by  the  trap 
with  the  hole  in  it,  under  which  the  Celebrity 
lay  prostrate.  I  could  hear  my  own  breathing. 
But  Mr.  Cooke  had  his  wits  about  him  still,  and 
at  this  critical  juncture  he  gave  McCann  a 
thump  on  the  back  which  nearly  carried  him 
off  his  feet. 

"They  say  the  mast  is  hollow,  old  man,"  he 
suggested. 


The  Celebrity  259 

"Be  jabers,  Mr.  Cooke,"  said  McCann,  "and 
I'm  beginning  to  think  it  is  !  "  He  took  off  his 
cap  and  scratched  his  head. 

"Well,  McCann,  I  hope  you're  contented,"  I 
said. 

"  Mr.  Crocker,"  said  he,  "and  it's  that  thank 
ful  I  am  for  you  that  the  gent  ain't  here.  But 
with  him  cutting  high  jinks  up  at  Mr.  Cooke's 
house  with  a  valet,  and  him  coming  on  the  yacht 
with  yese,  and  the  whole  country  in  that  state 
about  him,  begorra,"  said  McCann,  "and  it's 
domned  strange !  Maybe  it's  swimmin'  in  the 
water  he  is  !  " 

The  whole  party  had  followed  the  search,  and 
at  this  speech  of  the  chief's  our  nervous  tension 
became  suddenly  relaxed.  Most  of  us  sat  down 
to  laugh. 

"  I'm  asking  no  questions,  Mr.  Crocker,  ye'll 
take  notice,"  he  remarked,  his  voice  full  of 
reproachful  meaning. 

"McCann,"  said  I,  "you  come  outside.  I 
want  to  speak  to  you." 

He  followed  me  out. 

"Now,"  I  went  on,  "you  know  me  pretty 
well  "  (he  nodded  doubtfully),  "and  if  I  give  you 
my  word  that  Charles  Wrexell  Allen  is  not  »on 


260  The  Celebrity 

this  yacht,  and  never  has  been,  is  that  suffi 
cient?" 

"  Is  it  the  truth  you're  saying,  sir  ? " 

I  assured  him  that  it  was. 

"Then  where  is  he,  Mr.  Crocker?" 

"  God  only  knows  !  "  I  replied,  with  fervor. 
"I  don't,  McCann." 

The  chief  was  satisfied.  He  went  back  into 
the  cabin,  and  Mr.  Cooke,  in  the  exuberance 
of  his  joy,  produced  champagne.  McCann  had 
heard  of  my  client  and  of  his  luxurious  country 
place,  and  moreover  it  was  the  first  time  he  had 
ever  been  on  a  yellow-plush  yacht.  He  tarried. 
He  drank  Mr.  Cooke's  health  and  looked  around 
him  in  wonder  and  awe,  and  his  remarks  were 
worthy  of  record.  These  sayings  and  the 
thought  of  the  author  of  The  Sybarites  stifling 
below  with  his  mouth  to  an  auger-hole  kept  us 
in  a  continual  state  of  merriment.  And  at  last 
our  visitor  rose  to  go. 

As  he  was  stepping  over  the  side,  Mr.  Cooke 
laid  hold  of  a  brass  button  and  pressed  a  hand 
ful  of  the  black  cigars  upon  him. 

"  My  regards  to  the  detective,  old  man,"  said 
he. 

McCann  stared. 


The  Celebrity  261 

"  My  regards  to  Drew,"  my  client  insisted. 

"  Oh ! "  said  McCann,  his  face  lighting  up, 
"him  with  the  whiskers,  what  came  from  Bear 
Island  in  a  cat-boat.  Sure,  he  wasn't  no  de 
tective,  sir." 

"What  was  he?     A  police  commissioner?" 

"Mr.  Cooke,"  said  McCann,  disdainfully,  as 
he  got  into  his  boat,  "he  wasn't  nothing  but 
a  prospector  doing  the  lake  for  one  of  thim 
summer  hotel  companies." 


CHAPTER   XIX 

WHEN  the  biography  of  the  Celebrity  is 
written,  and  I  have  no  doubt  it  will  be  some 
day,  may  his  biographer  kindly  draw  a  veil  over 
that  instant  in  his  life  when  he  was  tenderly 
and  obsequiously  raised  by  Mr.  Cooke  from  the 
trap  in  the  floor  of  the  Maria  s  cabin. 

It  is  sometimes  the  case  that  a  good  fright 
will  heal  a  feud.  And  whereas,  before  the 
arrival  of  the  H.  Sinclair,  there  had  been  much 
dissension  and  many  quarrels  concerning  the 
disposal  of  the  quasi  Charles  Wrexell  Allen, 
when  the  tug  steamed  away  to  the  southwards 
but  one  opinion  remained, — that,  like  Jonah, 
he  must  be  got  rid  of.  And  no  one  concurred 
more  heartily  in  this  than  the  Celebrity  himself. 
He  strolled  about  and  smoked  apathetically, 
with  the  manner  of  one  who  was  bored  beyond 
description,  whilst  the  discussion  was  going  on 
between  Farrar,  Mr.  Cooke,  and  myself  as  to 
the  best  place  to  land  him.  When  consider 
ately  asked  by  my  client  whether  he  had  any 
262 


The  Celebrity  263 

-q 

choice  in  the  matter,  he  replied,  somewhat  face 
tiously,  that  he  could  not  think  of  making  a 
suggestion  to  one  who  had  shown  such  superla 
tive  skill  in  its  previous  management. 

Mr.  Trevor,  too,  experienced  a  change  of 
sentiment  in  Mr.  Cooke's  favor.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  the  senator's  scare  had  been 
of  such  thoroughness  that  he  was  willing  to 
agree  to  almost  anything.  He  had  come  so 
near  to  being  relieved  of  that  most  precious 
possession,  his  respectability,  that  the  reason 
in  Mr.  Cooke's  course  now  appealed  to  him 
very  strongly.  Thus  he  became  a  tacit  as- 
senter  in  wrong-doing,  for  circumstances  thrust 
this,  once  in  a  while,  upon  the  best  of  our 
citizens. 

The  afternoon  wore  cool ;  nay,  cold  is  a  better 
word.  The  wind  brought  with  it  a  suggestion 
of  the  pine-clad  wastes  of  the  northwestern 
wilderness  whence  it  came,  and  that  sure  har 
binger  of  autumn,  the  blue  haze,  settled  around 
the  hills,  and  benumbed  the  rays  of  the  sun 
lingering  over  the  crests.  Farrar  and  I,  as 
navigators,  were  glad  to  get  into  our  overcoats, 
while  the  others  assembled  in  the  little  cabin 
and  lighted  the  gasoline  stove  which  stood  in 


264  The  Celebrity 

the  corner.  Outside  we  had  our  pipes  for  con« 
solation,  and  the  sunset  beauty  of  the  lake. 

By  six  we  were  well  over  the  line,  and  con 
sulting  our  chart,  we  selected  a  cove  behind  a 
headland  on  our  left,  which  seemed  the  best  we 
could  do  for  an  anchorage,  although  it  was 
shallow  and  full  of  rocks.  As  we  were  chang 
ing  our  course  to  run  in,  Mr.  Cooke  appeared, 
bundled  up  in  his  reefer.  He  was  in  the  best 
of  spirits,  and  was  good  enough  to  concur  with 
our  plans. 

"Now,  sir/'  asked  Farrar,  "what  do  you  pro 
pose  to  do  with  Allen  ?  " 

But  our  client  only  chuckled. 

"Wait  and  see,  old  man,"  he  said;  "I've  got 
that  all  fixed." 

"  Well,"  Farrar  remarked,  when  he  had  gone 
in  again,  "  he  has  steered  it  deuced  well  so  far. 
I  think  we  can  trust  him." 

It  was  dark  when  we  dropped  anchor,  a  very 
tired  party  indeed  ;  and  as  the  Maria  could  not 
accommodate  us  all  with  sleeping  quarters,  Mr. 
Cooke  decided  that  the  ladies  should  have  the 
cabin,  since  the  night  was  cold.  And  so  it 
might  have  been,  had  not  Miss  Thorn  flatly 
refused  to  sleep  there.  The  cabin  was  stuffy, 


The  Celebrity  26$ 

she  said,  and  so  she  carried  her  point.  Leaving 
Farrar  and  one  of  Mr.  Cooke's  friends  to  take 
care  of  the  yacht,  the  rest  of  us  went  ashore, 
built  a  roaring  fire  and  raised  a  tent,  and  pro 
ceeded  to  make  ourselves  as  comfortable  as  cir 
cumstances  would  allow.  The  sense  of  relief 
over  the  danger  passed  produced  a  kind  of 
lightheartedness  amongst  us,  and  the  topics 
broached  at  supper  would  not  have  been  inap 
propriate  at  a  friendly  dinner  party.  As  we 
were  separating  for  the  night  Miss  Thorn  said 
to  me : 

"  I  am  so  happy  for  your  sake,  Mr.  Crocker, 
that  he  was  not  discovered." 

For  my  sake !  Could  she  really  have  meant 
it,  after  all  ?  I  went  to  sleep  thinking  of  that 
sentence,  beside  my  client  beneath  the  trees. 
And  it  was  first  in  my  thoughts  when  I  awoke. 

As  we  dipped  our  faces  in  the  brook  the  next 
morning  my  client  laughed  softly  to  himself 
between  the  gasps,  and  I  knew  that  he  had  in 
mind  the  last  consummate  touch  to  his  success 
ful  enterprise.  And  the  revelation  came  when 
the  party  were  assembled  at  breakfast.  Mr. 
Cooke  stood  up,  and  drawing  from  his  pocket 
a  small  and  mysterious  paper  parcel  he  forth- 


266  The  Celebrity 

with  delivered  himself  in  the  tone  and  manner 
which  had  so  endeared  him  to  the  familiars  of 
the  Lake  House  bar. 

"I'm  not  much  for  words,  as  you  all  know/' 
said  he,  with  becoming  modesty,  "and  I  don't 
set  up  to  be  an  orator.  I  am  just  what  you  see 
here,  —  a  damned  plain  man.  And  there's  only 
one  virtue  that  I  lay  any  claim  to,  —  no  one  can 
say  that  I  ever  went  back  on  a  friend.  I  want 
to  thank  all  of  you  (looking  at  the  senator)  for 
what  you  have  done  for  me  and  Allen.  It's  not 
for  us  to  talk  about  that  hundred  thousand  dol 
lars.  My  private  opinion  is  (he  seemed  to  have 
no  scruples  about  making  it  public)  that  Allen 
is  insane.  No,  old  man,  don't  interrupt  me ; 
but  you  haven't  acted  just  right,  and  that's  a 
fact.  And  I  won't  feel  square  with  myself 
until  I  put  him  where  I  found  him,  in  safety. 
I  am  sorry  to  say,  my  friends,"  he  added,  with 
emotion,  "that  Mr.  Allen  is  about  to  leave  us." 

He  paused  for  breath,  palpably  satisfied  with 
so  much  of  it,  and  with  the  effect  on  his 
audience. 

"Now,"  continued  he,  "we  start  this  morn 
ing  for  a  place  which  is  only  four  miles  or  so 
from  the  town  of  Saville,  and  I  shall  then  re- 


The  Celebrity  267 

quest  my  esteemed  legal  adviser,  Mr.  Crocker, 
to  proceed  to  the  town  and  buy  a  ready-made 
suit  of  clothes  for  Mr.  Allen,  a  slouch  hat,  a 
cheap  necktie,  and  a  stout  pair  of  farmer's 
boots.  And  I  have  here,"  he  said,  holding  up 
the  package,  "  I  have  here  the  rest  of  it.  My 
friends,  you  heard  the  chief  tell  me  that  Drew 
was  doing  the  lake  for  a  summer  hotel  syndi 
cate.  But  if  Drew  wasn't  a  detective  you  can 
throw  me  into  the  lake !  He  wasn't  exactly 
Pinkerton,  and  I  flatter  myself  that  we  were 
too  many  for  him,"  said  Mr.  Cooke,  with  de 
served  pride;  "and  he  went  away  in  such  a 
devilish  hurry  that  he  forgot  his  hand-bag  with 
some  of  his  extra  things." 

Then  my  client  opened  the  package,  and  held 
up  on  a  string  before  our  astonished  eyes  a 
wig,  a  pair  of  moustaches,  and  two  bushy  red 
whiskers. 

And  this  was  Mr.  Cooke's  scheme !  Did  it 
electrify  his  hearers  ?  Perhaps.  Even  the  sena 
tor  was  so  choked  with  laughter  that  he  was 
forced  to  cast  loose  one  of  the  buttons  which 
held  on  his  turn-down  collar,  and  Farrar  retired 
into  the  woods.  But  the  gravity  of  Mr.  Cooke's 
countenance  remained  serene. 


268  The  Celebrity 

"Old  man,"  he  said  to  the  Celebrity,  "you'll 
have  to  learn  the  price  of  potatoes  now.  Here 
are  Mr.  Drew's  duplicates ;  try  'em  on." 

This  the  Celebrity  politely  but  firmly  refused 
to  do. 

"  Mr.  Cooke,"  said  he,  "it  has  never  been  my 
lot  to  visit  so  kind  and  considerate  a  host,  or  to 
know  a  man  who  pursued  his  duty  with  so  little 
thought  and  care  of  his  own  peril.  I  wish  to 
thank  you,  and  to  apologize  for  any  hasty  ex 
pressions  I  may  have  dropped  by  mistake,  and 
I  would  it  were  possible  to  convince  you  that  I 
am  neither  a  maniac  nor  an  embezzler.  But,  if 
it's  just  the  same  to  you,  I  believe  I  can  get 
along  without  the  disguise  you  mentioned,  and 
so  save  Mr.  Crocker  his  pains.  In  short,  if  you 
will  set  me  down  at  Saville,  I  am  willing  to  take 
my  chances  of  reaching  the  Canadian  Pacific 
from  that  point  without  fear  of  detection." 

The  Celebrity's  speech  produced  a  good  im 
pression  on  all  save  Mr.  Cooke,  who  appeared  a 
trifle  water-logged.  He  had  dealt  successfully 
with  Mr.  Allen  when  that  gentleman  had  been 
in  defiant  moods,  or  in  moods  of  ugly  sarcasm. 
But  this  good-natured,  turn-you-down-easy  note 
puzzled  my  client  not  a  little.  Was  this  cher- 


The  Celebrity  269 

ished  scheme  a  whim  or  a  joke  to  be  lightly 
cast  aside  ?  Mr.  Cooke  thought  not.  The 
determination  which  distinguished  him  still  sat 
in  his  eye  as  he  bustled  about  giving  orders  for 
the  breaking  of  camp.  This  refractory  criminal 
must  be  saved  from  himself,  cost  what  it  might, 
and  responsibility  again  rested  heavy  on  my 
client's  mind  as  I  rowed  him  out  to  the  Maria. 

"Crocker,"  he  said,  "if  Allen  is  scooped  in 
spite  of  us,  you  have  got  to  go  East  and  make 
him  out  an  idiot." 

He  seemed  to  think  that  I  had  a  talent  for 
this  particular  defence.  I  replied  that  I  would 
do  my  best. 

"It  won't  be  difficult,"  he  went  on;  "not 
near  as  tough  as  that  case  you  won  for  me. 
You  can  bring  in  all  the  bosh  about  his  claim 
ing  to  be  an  author,  you  know.  And  I'll  stand 
expenses." 

This  was  downright  generous  of  Mr.  Cooke. 
We  have  all,  no  doubt,  drawn  our  line  between 
what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong,  but  I  have 
often  wondered  how  many  of  us  with  the  world's 
indorsement  across  our  backs  trespass  as  little 
on  the  other  side  of  the  line  as  he. 

After  Farrar  and  the  Four  got  aboard  it  fell 


270  The  Celebrity 

to  my  lot  to  row  the  rest  of  the  party  to  the 
yacht.  And  this  was  no  slight  task  that  morn 
ing.  The  tender  was  small,  holding  but  two 
beside  the  man  at  the  oars,  and  owing  to  the 
rocks  and  shallow  water  of  which  I  have  spoken, 
the  Maria  lay  considerably  over  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  out.  Hence  each  trip  occupied  some 
time.  Mr.  Cooke  I  had  transferred  with  a 
load  of  canvas  and  the  tent  poles,  and  next 
I  returned  for  Mrs.  Cooke  and  Mr.  Trevor, 
whom  I  deposited  safely.  Then  I  landed  again, 
helped  in  Miss  Trevor  and  Miss  Thorn,  leaving 
the  Celebrity  for  the  last,  and  was  pulling  for 
the  yacht  when  a  cry  from  the  tender's  stern 
arrested  me. 

"  Mr.  Crocker,  they  are  sailing  away  without 
us!" 

I  turned  in  my  seat.  The  Marias  mainsail 
was  up,  and  the  jib  was  being  hoisted,  and  her 
head  was  rapidly  falling  off  to  the  wind.  Far- 
rar  was  casting.  In  the  stern,  waving  a  hand 
kerchief,  I  recognized  Mrs.  Cooke,  and  beside 
her  a  figure  in  black,  gesticulating  frantically, 
—  a  vision  of  coat-tails  flapping  in  the  breeze. 
Then  the  yacht  heeled  on  her  course  and  forged 
lakewards. 


The  Celebrity  271 

"Row,  Mr.  Crocker,  row!  they  are  leaving 
us  !  "  cried  Miss  Trevor,  in  alarm. 

I  hastened  to  reassure  her. 

"  Farrar  is  probably  trying  something,"  I 
said.  "They  will  be  turning  presently." 

This  is  just  what  they  did  not  do.  Once  out 
of  the  inlet,  they  went  about  and  headed  north 
ward,  up  the  coast,  and  we  remained  watching 
them  until  Mr.  Trevor  became  a  mere  oscillat 
ing  black  speck  against  the  sail. 

"What  can  it  mean  ? "  asked  Miss  Thorn. 

I  had  not  so  much  as  an  idea. 

"  They  certainly  won't  desert  us,  at  any  rate,"  I 
said.  "  We  had  better  go  ashore  again  and  wait." 

The  Celebrity  was  seated  on  the  beach,  and 
he  was  whittling.  Now  whittling  is  an  occupa 
tion  which  speaks  of  a  contented  frame  of  mind, 
and  the  Maria's  departure  did  not  seem  to  have 
annoyed  or  disturbed  him. 

"  Castaways,"  says  he,  gayly,  "  castaways  on 
a  foreign  shore.  Two  delightful  young  ladies, 
a  bright  young  lawyer,  a  fugitive  from  justice, 
no  chaperon,  and  nothing  to  eat.  And  what 
a  situation  for  a  short  story,  if  only  an  author 
were  permitted  to  make  use  of  his  own  experi 
ences!" 


272  The  Celebrity 

"  Only  you  don't  know  how  it  will  end,"  Miss 
Thorn  put  in. 

The  Celebrity  glanced  up  at  her. 

"  I  have  a  guess,"  said  he,  with  a  smile. 

"Is  it  true,"  Miss  Trevor  asked,  "that  a 
story  must  contain  the  element  of  love  in  order 
to  find  favor  with  the  public  ?  " 

"  That  generally  recommends  it,  especially  to 
your  sex,  Miss  Trevor,"  he  replied  jocosely. 

Miss  Trevor  appeared  interested. 

"And  tell  me,"  she  went  on,  "isn't  it  some 
times  the  case  that  you  start  out  intent  on  one 
ending,  and  that  your  artistic  sense  of  what  is 
fitting  demands  another  ?  " 

"Don't  be  silly,  Irene,"  said  Miss  Thorn. 
She  was  skipping  flat  pebbles  over  the  water, 
and  doing  it  capitally,  too. 

I  thought  the  Celebrity  rather  resented  the 
question. 

"That  sometimes  happens,  of  course,"  said 
he,  carelessly.  He  produced  his  inevitable  gold 
cigarette  case  and  held  it  out  to  me.  "Be 
sociable  for  once,  and  have  one,"  he  said. 

I  accepted. 

"  Do  you  know,"  he  continued,  lighting  me  a 
match,  "  it  beats  me  why  you  and  Miss  Trevor 


The  Celebrity  273 

put  this  thing  up  on  me.  You  have  enjoyed  it, 
naturally,  and  if  you  wanted  to  make  me  out  a 
donkey  you  succeeded  rather  well.  I  used  to 
think  that  Crocker  was  a  pretty  good  friend 
of  mine  when  I  went  to  his  dinners  in  New 
York.  And  I  once  had  every  reason  to  believe," 
he  added,  "  that  Miss  Trevor  and  I  were  on  ex 
cellent  terms." 

Was  this  audacity  or  stupidity  ?  Undoubt 
edly  both. 

"So  we  were,"  answered  Miss  Trevor,  "and 
I  should  be  very  sorry  to  think,  Mr.  Allen,"  she 
said  meaningly,  "that  our  relations  had  in  any 
way  changed." 

It  was  the  Celebrity's  turn  to  flush. 

"At  any  rate,"  he  remarked  in  his  most  off 
hand  manner,  "  I  am  much  obliged  to  you  both. 
On  sober  reflection  I  have  come  to  believe  that 
you  did  the  very  best  thing  for  my  reputation." 


CHAPTER   XX 

HE  had  scarcely  uttered  these  words  before 
the  reason  for  the  Marias  abrupt  departure 
became  apparent.  The  anchorage  of  the  yacht 
had  been  at  a  spot  whence  nearly  the  whole 
south  of  the  lake  towards  Far  Harbor  was  open, 
whilst  a  high  tongue  of  land  hid  that  part  from 
us  on  the  shore.  As  he  spoke,  there  shot  before 
our  eyes  a  steaming  tug-boat,  and  a  second  look 
was  not  needed  to  assure  me  that  she  was  the 
"H.  Sinclair,  of  Far  Harbor/'  They  had  per 
ceived  her  from  the  yacht  an  hour  since,  and  it 
was  clear  that  my  client,  prompt  to  act  as  to 
think,  had  decided  at  once  to  put  out  and  lead 
her  a  blind  chase,  so  giving  the  Celebrity  a 
chance  to  make  good  his  escape. 

The  surprise  and  apprehension  created 
amongst  us  by  her  sudden  appearance  was 
such  that  none  of  us,  for  a  space,  spoke  or 
moved.  She  was  about  a  mile  off  shore,  but 
it  was  even  whether  the  chief  would  decide 
that  his  quarry  had  been  left  behind  in  the 
274 


The  Celebrity  275 

inlet  and  turn  in,  or  whether  he  would  push 
ahead  after  the  yacht.  He  gave  us  an  abomina 
ble  five  minutes  of  uncertainty.  For  when  he 
came  opposite  the  cove  he  slowed  up,  appar 
ently  weighing  his  chances.  It  was  fortunate 
that  we  were  hidden  from  his  glasses  by  a 
copse  of  pines.  The  Sinclair  increased  her 
speed  and  pushed  northward  after  the  Maria. 
I  turned  to  the  Celebrity. 

"  If  you  wish  to  escape,  now  is  your  chance," 
I  said. 

For  contrariness  he  was  more  than  I  have 
ever  had  to  deal  with.  Now  he  crossed  his 
knees  and  laughed. 

"  It  strikes  me  you  had  better  escape,  Crocker," 
said  he.  "You  have  more  to  run  for." 

I  looked  across  at  Miss  Thorn.  She  had  told 
him,  then,  of  my  predicament.  And  she  did  not 
meet  my  eye.  He  began  to  whittle  again,  and 
remarked  : 

"  It  is  only  seventeen  miles  or  so  across  these 
hills  to  Far  Harbor,  old  chap,  and  you  can  get 
a  train  there  for  Asquith." 

"  Just  as  you  choose,"  said  I,  shortly. 

With  that  I  started  off  to  gain  the  top  of  the 
promontory  in  order  to  watch  the  chase.  I 


276  The  Celebrity 

knew  that  this  could  not  last  as  long  as  that 
of  the  day  before.  In  less  than  three  hours  we 
might  expect  the  Maria  and  the  tug  in  the 
cove.  And,  to  be  frank,  the  indisposition  of 
the  Celebrity  to  run  troubled  me.  Had  he 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  just  as 
well  to  submit  to  what  seemed  the  inevitable 
and  so  enjoy  the  spice  of  revenge  over  me  ? 
My  thoughts  gave  zest  to  my  actions,  and  I 
was  climbing  the  steep,  pine-clad  slope  with 
rapidity  when  I  heard  Miss  Trevor  below  me 
calling  out  to  wait  for  her.  At  the  point  of 
our  ascent  the  ridge  of  the  tongue  must  have 
been  four  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
water,  and  from  this  place  of  vantage  we  could 
easily  make  out  the  Maria  in  the  distance,  and 
note  from  time  to  time  the  gain  of  the  Sinclair. 

"It  wasn't  fair  of  me,  I  know,  to  leave 
Marian,"  said  Miss  Trevor,  apologetically,  "  but 
I  simply  couldn't  resist  the  temptation  to  come 
up  here." 

"  I  hardly  think  she  will  bear  you  much  ill- 
will,"  I  answered  dryly;  "you  did  the  kindest 
thing  possible.  Who  knows  but  what  they  are 
considering  the  advisability  of  an  elopement !  " 

We   passed   a    most   enjoyable    morning   up 


The  Celebrity  277 

there,  all  things  taken  into  account,  for  the  day 
was  too  perfect  for  worries.  We  even  laughed 
at  our  hunger,  which  became  keen  about  noon, 
as  is  always  the  case  when  one  has  nothing  to 
eat ;  so  we  set  out  to  explore  the  ridge  for 
blackberries.  These  were  so  plentiful  that  I 
gathered  a  hatful  for  our  friends  below,  and 
then  I  lingered  for  a  last  look  at  the  boats.  I 
could  make  out  but  one.  Was  it  the  yacht  ? 
No ;  for  there  was  a  trace  of  smoke  over  it. 
And  yet  I  was  sure  of  a  mast.  I  put  my  hand 
over  my  eyes. 

"What  is  it?"  asked  Miss  Trevor,  anxiously. 

"The  tug  has  the  Maria  in  tow,"  I  said,  "and 
they  are  coming  this  way." 

We  scrambled  down,  sobered  by  this  dis 
covery  and  thinking  of  little  else.  And  break 
ing  through  the  bushes  we  came  upon  Miss 
Thorn  and  the  Celebrity.  To  me,  preoccupied 
with  the  knowledge  that  the  tug  would  soon 
be  upon  us,  there  seemed  nothing  strange  in 
the  attitude  of  these  two,  but  Miss  Trevor 
remarked  something  out  of  the  common  at 
once.  How  keenly  a  woman  scents  a  situa 
tion  ! 

The  Celebrity  was   standing  with    his    back 


278  The  Celebrity 

to  Miss  Thorn,  at  the  edge  of  the  water.  His 
chin  was  in  the  air,  and  to  a  casual  observer 
he  looked  to  be  minutely  interested  in  a  flock 
of  gulls  passing  over  us.  And  Miss  Thorn  ? 
She  was  enthroned  upon  a  heap  of  drift-wood, 
and  when  I  caught  sight  of  her  face  I  forgot 
the  very  existence  of  the  police  captain.  Her 
lips  were  parted  in  a  smile. 

"You  are  just  in  time,  Irene,"  she  said 
calmly ;  "  Mr.  Allen  has  asked  me  to  be  his 
wife." 

I  stood,  with  the  hatful  of  berries  in  my  hand, 
like  a  stiff  wax  figure  in  a  museum.  The  ex 
pected  had  come  at  last ;  and  how  little  do  we 
expect  the  expected  when  it  comes !  I  was 
aware  that  both  the  young  women  were  looking 
at  me,  and  that  both  were  quietly  laughing. 
And  I  must  have  cut  a  ridiculous  figure  indeed, 
though  I  have  since  been  informed  on  good 
authority  that  this  was  not  so.  Much  I  cared 
then  what  happened.  Then  came  Miss  Trevor's 
reply,  and  it  seemed  to  shake  the  very  founda 
tions  of  my  wits. 

"But,  Marian,"  said  she,  "you  can't  have 
him.  He  is  engaged  to  me.  And  if  it's  quite 
the  same  to  you,  I  want  him  myself.  It  isn't 


The  Celebrity  279 

often,  you  know,  that  one  has  the  opportunity 
to  marry  a  Celebrity." 

The  Celebrity  turned  around  :  an  expression 
of  extraordinary  intelligence  shot  across  his 
face,  and  I  knew  then  that  the  hole  in  the  well- 
nigh  invulnerable  armor  of  his  conceit  had  been 
found  at  last.  And  Miss  Thorn,  of  all  people, 
had  discovered  it. 

"  Engaged  to  you  ?  "  she  cried,  "  I  can't  be 
lieve  it.  He  would  be  untrue  to  everything  he 
has  written." 

"  My  word  should  be  sufficient,"  said  Miss 
Trevor,  stiffly.  (May  I  be  hung  if  they  hadn't 
acted  it  all  out  before.)  "If  you  should  wish 
proofs,  however,  I  have  several  notes  from  him 
which  are  at  your  service,  and  an  inscribed 
photograph.  No,  Marian,"  she  added,  shaking 
her  head,  "  I  really  cannot  give  him  up." 

Miss  Thorn  rose  and  confronted  him,  and 
her  dignity  was  inspiring. 

"Is  this  so?"  she  demanded;  "is  it  true 
that  you  are  engaged  to  marry  Miss  Trevor? " 

The  Bone  of  Contention  was  badly  troubled. 
He  had  undoubtedly  known  what  it  was  to  have 
two  women  quarrelling  over  his  hand  at  the 
same  time,  but  I  am  willing  to  bet  that  the 


280  The  Celebrity 

sensation  of  having  them  come  together  in  his 
presence  was  new  to  him. 

"I  did  not  think  —  "  he  began.  "I  was  not 
aware  that  Miss  Trevor  looked  upon  the  matter 
in  that  light,  and  you  know  —  " 

"What  disgusting  equivocation,"  Miss  Trevor 
interrupted.  "  He  asked  me  point  blank  to 
marry  him,  and  of  course  I  consented.  He  has 
never  mentioned  to  me  that  he  wished  to  break 
the  engagement,  and  I  wouldn't  have  broken 
it." 

I  felt  like  a  newsboy  in  a  gallery,  —  I  wanted 
to  cheer.  And  the  Celebrity  kicked  the  stones 
and  things. 

"  Who  would  have  thought,"  she  persisted, 
"  that  the  author  of  The  Sybarites,  the  man  who 
chose  Desmond  for  a  hero,  could  play  thus  idly 
with  the  heart  of  woman  ?  The  man  who  wrote 
these  beautiful  lines  :  '  Inconstancy  in  a  woman, 
because  of  the  present  social  conditions,  is 
sometimes  pardonable.  In  a  man,  nothing  is 
more  despicable.'  And  how  poetic  a  justice 
it  is  that  he  has  to  marry  me,  and  is  thus  forced 
to  lead  the  life  of  self-denial  he  has  conceived 
for  his  hero.  Mr.  Crocker,  will  you  be  my 
attorney  if  he  should  offer  any  objections  ? " 


The  Celebrity  281 

The  humor  of  this  proved  too  much  for  the 
three  of  us,  and  Miss  Trevor  herself  went  into 
peals  of  laughter.  Would  that  the  Celebrity 
could  have  seen  his  own  face.  I  doubt  if  even 
he  could  have  described  it.  But  I  wished  for 
his  sake  that  the  earth  might  have  kindly 
opened  and  taken  him  in. 

"  Marian,"  said  Miss  Trevor,  "  I  am  going  to 
be  very  generous.  I  relinquish  the  prize  to  you, 
and  to  you  only.  And  I  flatter  myself  there  are 
not  many  girls  in  this  world  who  would  do  it." 

"Thank  you,  Irene,"  Miss  Thorn  replied 
gravely,  "much  as  I  want  him,  I  could  not 
think  of  depriving  you." 

Well,  there  is  a  limit  to  all  endurance,  and 
the  Celebrity  had  reached  his. 

"  Crocker,"  he  said,  "  how  far  is  it  to  the 
Canadian  Pacific  ? " 

I  told  him. 

"  I  think  I  had  best  be  starting,"  said  he. 

And  a  moment  later  he  had  disappeared  into 

the  woods. 

***** 

We  stood  gazing  in  the  direction  he  had 
taken,  until  the  sound  of  his  progress  had-  died 
away.  The  shock  of  it  all  had  considerably 


282  The  Celebrity 

muddled  my  brain,  and  when  at  last  I  had  ad 
justed  my  thoughts  to  the  new  conditions,  a 
sensation  of  relief,  of  happiness,  of  joy  (call  it 
what  you  will),  came  upon  me,  and  I  could 
scarce  restrain  an  impulse  to  toss  my  hat  in 
the  air.  He  was  gone  at  last !  But  that  was 
not  the  reason.  I  was  safe  from  O'Meara  and 
calumny.  Nor  was  this  all.  And  I  did  not  dare 
to  look  at  Miss  Thorn.  The  knowledge  that 
she  had  planned  and  carried  out  with  dignity 
and  success  such  a  campaign  filled  me  with  awe. 
That  I  had  misjudged  her  made  me  despise 
myself.  Then  I  became  aware  that  she  was 
speaking  to  me,  and  I  turned. 

"Mr.  Crocker,  do  you  think  there  is  any 
danger  that  he  will  lose  his  way  ? " 

"No,  Miss  Thorn,"  I  replied;  "he  has  only 
to  get  to  the  top  of  that  ridge  and  strike  the 
road  for  Saville,  as  I  told  him." 

We  were  silent  again  until  Miss  Trevor  re 
marked  : 

"  Well,  he  deserved  every  bit  of  it." 

"And  more,  Irene,"  said  Miss  Thorn,  laugh 
ing  ;  "  he  deserved  to  marry  you." 

"I  think  he  won't  come  West  again  for  a 
very  long  time,"  said  I. 


The  Celebrity  283 

Miss  Trevor  regarded  me  wickedly,  and  I 
knew  what  was  coming. 

"  I  hope  you  are  convinced,  now,  Mr.  Crocker, 
that  our  sex  is  not  as  black  as  you  painted 
it :  that  Miss  Thorn  knew  what  she  was  about, 
and  that  she  is  not  the  inconsistent  and  variable 
creature  you  took  her  to  be." 

I  felt  the  blood  rush  to  my  face,  and  Miss 
Thorn,  too,  became  scarlet.  She  went  up  to 
the  mischievous  Irene  and  grasping  her  arms 
from  behind,  bent  them  until  she  cried  for 
mercy. 

"  How  strong  you  are,  Marian  !  It  is  an  out 
rage  to  hurt  me  so.  I  haven't  said  anything." 
But  she  was  incorrigible,  and  when  she  had 
twisted  free  she  began  again : 

"  I  took  it  upon  myself  to  speak  a  few  para 
bles  to  Mr.  Crocker  the  other  day.  You  knowr 
Marian,  that  he  is  one  of  these  level-headed  old 
fogies  who  think  women  ought  to  be  kept  in  a 
menagerie,  behind  bars,  to  be  inspected  on 
Saturday  afternoons.  Now,  I  appeal  to  you  if 
it  wouldn't  be  disastrous  to  fall  in  love  with  a 
man  of  such  ideas.  And  just  to  let  you  know" 
what  a  literal  old  law-brief  he  is,  when  I  said  he 
had  had  a  hat-pin  sticking  in  him  for  several 


284  The  Celebrity 

weeks,  he  nearly  jumped  overboard,  and  began 
to  feel  himself  all  over.  Did  you  know  that  he 
actually  believed  you  were  doing  your  best  to 
get  married  to  the  Celebrity  ? "  (Here  she 
dodged  Miss  Thorn  again.)  "  Oh,  yes,  he  con 
fided  in  me.  He  used  to  worry  himself  ill  over 
that.  I'll  tell  you  what  he  said  to  me  only  —  " 

But  fortunately  at  this  juncture  Miss  Trevor 
was  captured  again,  and  Miss  Thorn  put  her 
hand  over  her  mouth.  Heaven  only  knows 
what  she  would  have  said ! 

The  two  boats  did  not  arrive  until  nearly  four 
o'clock,  owing  to  some  trouble  to  the  tug's  pro 
peller.  Not  knowing  what  excuse  my  client 
might  have  given  for  leaving  some  of  his  party 
ashore,  I  thought  it  best  to  go  out  to  meet 
them.  Seated  on  the  cabin  roof  of  the  Maria 
I  beheld  Mr.  Cooke  and  McCann  in  conversa 
tion,  each  with  a  black  cigar  too  big  for 
him. 

"  Hello,  Crocker,  old  man,"  shouted  my 
client,  "did  you  think  I  was  never  coming  back? 
I've  had  lots  of  sport  out  of  this  hayseed  cap 
tain  "  (and  he  poked  that  official  playfully), 
"but  I  didn't  get  any  grub.  So  we'll  have  to 
go  to  Far  Harbor." 


The  Celebrity  285 

I  caught  the  hint.  Mr.  Cooke  had  given  out 
that  he  had  started  for  Saville  to  restock  the 
larder. 

"No,"  he  continued,  "Brass  Buttons  didn't 
let  me  get  to  Saville.  You  see,  when  he  got 
back  to  town  last  night  they  told  him  he  had 
been  buncoed  out  of  the  biggest  thing  for  years, 
and  they  got  it  into  his  head  that  I  was  child 
enough  to  run  a  ferry  for  criminals.  They  told 
him  he  wasn't  the  sleuth  he  thought  he  was,  so 
he  came  back.  They'll  have  the  laugh  on  him 
now,  for  sure." 

McCann  listened  with  admirable  good-nature, 
gravely  pulling  at  his  cigar,  and  eyeing  Mr. 
Cooke  with  a  friendly  air  of  admiration. 

"Mr.  Crocker,"  he  said,  with  melancholy 
humor,  "it's  leery  I  am  with  the  whole  shoot 
ing-match.  Mr.  Cooke  here  is  a  gentleman, 
every  inch  of  him,  and  so  be  you,  Mr.  Crocker. 
But  I'm  just  after  taking  a  look  at  the  hole 
in  the  bottom  of  the  boat.  '  Ye  have  yer  bunks 
in  queer  places,  Mr.  Cooke,'  says  I.  It's  not  for 
me  to  be  doubting  a  gentleman's  word,  sir,  but 
I'm  thinking  me  man  is  over  the  hills  and  far 
away,  and  that's  true  for  ye." 

Mr.  Cooke  winked  expressively. 


286  The  Celebrity 

"  McCann,  you've  been  jerked,"  said  he. 
"  Have  another  bottle  !  " 

The  Sinclair  towed  us  to  Far  Harbor  for  a 
consideration,  the  wind  being  strong  again  from 
the  south,  and  McCann  was  induced  by  the 
affable  owner  to  remain  on  the  yellow-plush 
yacht.  I  cornered  him  before  we  had  gone 
a  great  distance. 

"  McCann,"  said  I,  "  what  made  you  come 
back  to-day  ? " 

"  Faith,  Mr.  Crocker,  I  don't  care  if  I  am  tell 
ing  you.  I  always  had  a  liking  for  you,  sir,  and 
bechune  you  and  me  it  was  that  divil  O'Meara 
what  made  all  the  trouble.  I  wasn't  taking  his 
money,  not  me ;  the  saints  forbid !  But  glory 
be  to  God,  if  he  didn't  raise  a  rumpus  whin  I 
come  back  without  Allen  !  It  was  sure  he  was 
that  the  gent  left  that  place,  —  what  are  ye 
calling  it  ?  —  Mohair,  in  the  Maria,  and  we  tele 
graphs  over  to  Asquith.  He  swore  I'd  lose  me 
job  if  I  didn't  fetch  him  to-day.  Mr.  Crocker, 
sir,  it's  the  lumber  business  I'll  be  startin'  next 
week,"  said  McCann. 

"Don't  let  that  worry  you,  McCann,"  I 
answered.  "  I  will  see  that  you  don't  lose  your 
place,  and  I  give  you  my  word  again  that 


The  Celebrity  287 

Charles  Wrexell  Allen  has  never  been  aboard 
this  yacht,  or  at  Mohair  to  my  knowledge. 
What  is  more,  I  will  prove  it  to-morrow  to 
your  satisfaction." 

McCann's  faith  was  touching. 

"  Ye're  not  to  say  another  word,  sir,"  he  said, 
and  he  stuck  out  his  big  hand,  which  I  grasped 
warmly. 

My  affection  for  McCann  still  remains  a 
strong  one. 

After  my  talk  with  McCann  I  was  sitting  on 
the  forecastle  propped  against  the  bitts  of  the 
Maria's  anchor-chain,  and  looking  at  the  swirl 
ing  foam  cast  up  by  the  tug's  propeller.  There 
were  many  things  I  wished  to  turn  over  in  my 
mind  just  then,  but  I  had  not  long  been  in  a 
state  of  reverie  when  I  became  conscious  that 
Miss  Thorn  was  standing  beside  me.  I  got  to 
my  feet. 

"I  have  been  wondering  how  long  you  would  re 
main  in  that  trance,  Mr.  Crocker,"  she  said.  "  Is 
it  too  much  to  ask  what  you  were  thinking  of  ? " 

Now  it  so  chanced  that  I  was  thinking  of  her 
at  that  moment.  It  would  never  have  done  to 
say  this,  so  I  stammered.  And  Miss  Thorn  was 
a  young  woman  of  tact. 


288  The  Celebrity 

"  I  should  not  have  put  that  to  so  literal  a 
man  as  you,"  she  declared.  "  I  fear  that  you 
are  incapable  of  crossing  swords.  And  then," 
she  added,  with  a  slight  hesitation  that  puzzled 
me,  "  I  did  not  corne  up  here  to  ask  you  that, 
—  I  came  to  get  your  opinion." 

"  My  opinion  ?  "  I  repeated. 

"  Not  your  legal  opinion,"  she  replied,  smiling, 
"  but  your  opinion  as  a  citizen,  as  an  individual, 
if  you  have  one.  To  be  frank,  I  want  your 
opinion  of  me.  Do  you  happen  to  have  such 
a  thing  ? " 

I  had.     But  I  was  in  no  condition  to  give  it. 

"  Do  you  think  me  a  very  wicked  girl  ? "  she 
asked,  coloring.  "  You  once  thought  me  incon 
sistent,  I  believe,  but  I  am  not  that.  Have  I 
done  wrong  in  leading  the  Celebrity  to  the 
point  where  you  saw  him  this  morning  ?  " 

"  Heaven  forbid  !  "  I  cried  fervently  ;  "  but 
you  might  have  spared  me  a  great  deal  had  you 
let  me  into  the  secret." 

"Spared  you  a  great  deal,"  said  Miss  Thorn. 
"I  —  I  don't  quite  understand." 

"Well  —  "  I  began,  and  there  I  stayed.  All 
the  words  in  the  dictionary  seemed  to  slip  out 
of  my  grasp,  and  I  foundered.  I  realized  I  had 


The  Celebrity  289 

said  something  which  even  in  my  wildest  mo 
ments  I  had  not  dared  to  think  of.  My  secret 
was  out  before  I  knew  I  possessed  it.  Bad 
enough  had  I  told  it  to  Farrar  in  an  unguarded 
second.  But  to  her!  I  was  blindly  seeking 
some  way  of  escape  when  she  said  softly : 

"  Did  you  really  care  ?  " 

I  am  man  enough,  I  hope,  when  there  is  need 
to  be.  And  it  matters  not  what  I  felt  then,  but 
the  words  came  back  to  me. 

"  Marian,"  I  said,  "  I  cared  more  than  you  will 
ever  learn." 

But  it  seems  that  she  had  known  all  the 
time,  almost  since  that  night  I  had  met  her 
at  the  train.  And  how?  I  shall  not  pretend 
to  answer,  that  being  quite  beyond  me.  I  am 
very  sure  of  one  thing,  however,  which  is  that 
I  never  told  a  soul,  man  or  woman,  or  even 
hinted  at  it.  How  was  it  possible  when  I 
didn't  know  myself  ? 

The  light  in  the  west  was  gone  as  we  were 
pulled  into  Far  Harbor,  and  the  lamps  of  the 
little  town  twinkled  brighter  than  I  had  ever 
seen  them  before.  I  think  they  must  have  been 
reflected  in  our  faces,  since  Miss  Trevor,  when 
u 


290  The  Celebrity 

she  came  forward  to  look  for  us,  saw  something 
there  and  openly  congratulated  us.  And  this 
most  embarrassing  young  woman  demanded 
presently : 

"  How  did  it  happen,  Marian  ?  Did  you  pro 
pose  to  him  ? " 

I  was  about  to  protest  indignantly,  but  Marian 
laid  her  hand  on  my  arm. 

"Tell  it  not  in  Asquith,"  said  she.  "Irene, 
I  won't  have  him  teased  any  more." 

We  were  drawing  up  to  the  dock,  and  for  the 
first  time  I  saw  that  a  crowd  was  gathered 
there.  The  report  of  this  chase  had  gone 
abroad.  Some  began  calling  out  to  McCann 
when  we  came  within  distance,  among  others 
the  editor  of  the  Northern  Lights,  and  beside 
him  I  perceived  with  amusement  the  generous 
lines  of  the  person  of  Mr.  O'Meara  himself.  I 
hurried  back  to  give  Farrar  a  hand  with  the 
ropes,  and  it  was  O'Meara  who  caught  the  one 
I  fluiag  ashore  and  wound  it  around  a  pile. 
The  people  pressed  around,  peering  at  our  party 
on  the  Maria,  and  I  heard  McCann  exhorting 
them  to  make  way.  And  just  then,  as  he  was 
about  to  cross  the  plank,  they  parted  for  some 
one  from  behind.  A  breathless  messenger 


The  Celebrity  291 

halted  at  the  edge  of  the  wharf.  He  held 
out  a  telegram. 

McCann  seized  it  and  dived  into  the  cabin, 
followed  closely  by  my  client  and  those  of  us 
who  could  push  after.  He  tore  open  the  en 
velope,  his  eye  ran  over  the  lines,  and  then  he 
began  to  slap  his  thigh  and  turn  around  in  a 
circle,  like  a  man  dazed. 

"Whiskey!"  shouted  Mr.  Cooke.  "Get  him 
a  glass  of  Scotch  !  " 

But  McCann  held  up  his  hand. 

"  Holy  Saint  Patrick ! "  he  said,  in  a  husky 
voice,  "  it's  upset  I  am,  bottom  upwards.  Will 
ye  listen  to  this  ? " 

"  '  Drew  is  your  man.  Reddish  hair  and  long 
side  whiskers,  gray  clothes.  Pretends  to  repre 
sent  summer  hotel  syndicate.  Allen  at  Asquith 
unknozvn  and  harmless. 

"  '  (Signed)  Everhardt:  " 

"  Sew  me  up,"  said  Mr.  Cooke  ;  "if  that  don't 
beat  hell !" 


CHAPTER    XXI 

IN  this  world  of  lies  the  good  and  the  bad  are 
so  closely  intermingled  that  frequently  one  is 
the  means  of  obtaining  the  other.  Therefore, 
I  wish  very  freely  to  express  my  obligations  to 
the  Celebrity  for  any  share  he  may  have  had 
in  contributing  to  the  greatest  happiness  of  my 
life. 

Marian  and  I  were  married  the  very  next 
month,  October,  at  my  client's  palatial  resi 
dence  of  Mohair.  This  was  at  Mr.  Cooke's 
earnest  wish :  and  since  Marian  was  Mrs. 
Cooke's  own  niece,  and  an  orphan,  there 
seemed  no  good  reason  why  my  client  should 
not  be  humored  in  the  matter.  As  for  Marian 
and  me,  we  did  not  much  care  whether  we  were 
married  at  Mohair  or  the  City  of  Mexico.  Mrs. 
Cooke,  I  think,  had  a  secret  preference  for 
Germantown. 

Mr.  Cooke  quite  over-reached  himself  in  that 
wedding.  "The  knot  was  tied,"  as  the  papers 
expressed  it,  "under  a  huge  bell  of  yellow 
292 


The  Celebrity  293 

roses."  The  paper  also  named  the  figure  which 
the  flowers  and  the  collation  and  other  things 
cost  Mr.  Cooke.  A  natural  reticence  forbids 
me  to  repeat  it.  But,  lest  my  client  should 
think  that  I  undervalue  his  kindness,  I  will  say 
that  we  had  the  grandest  wedding  ever  seen 
in  that  part  of  the  world.  McCann  was  there, 
and  Mr.  Cooke  saw  to  it  that  he  had  a  punch 
bowl  all  to  himself  in  which  to  drink  our 
healths  :  Judge  Short  was  there,  still  followed 
by  the  conjugal  eye:  and  Senator  Trevor,  who 
remained  over,  in  a  new  long  black  coat  to  kiss 
the  bride.  Mr.  Cooke  chartered  two  cars  to 
carry  guests  from  the  East,  besides  those  who 
came  as  ordinary  citizens.  Miss  Trevor  was 
of  the  party,  and  Farrar,  of  course,  was  best 
man.  Would  that  I  had  the  flow  of  words  pos 
sessed  by  the  reporter  of  the  Chicago  Sunday 
newspaper  ! 

But  there  is  one  thing  I  must  mention  before 
Mrs.  Crocker  and  I  leave  for  New  York,  in  a 
shower  of  rice,  on  Mr.  Cooke' s  own  private  car, 
and  that  is  my  client's  gift.  In  addition  to  the 
check  he  gave  Marian,  he  presented  us  witl^ 
a  huge,  repousse  silver  urn  he  had  had  rnade 
to  order,  and  he  expressed  a  desire  that  the 


294  The  Celebrity 

design  upon  it  should  remind  us  of  him  forever 
and  ever.  I  think  it  will.  Mercury  is  duly  set 
forth  in  a  gorgeous  equipage,  driving  four  horses 
around  the  world  at  a  furious  pace ;  and  the 
artist,  by  special  instructions,  had  docked  their 
tails. 

From  New  York,  Mrs.  Crocker  and  I  went 
abroad.  And  it  so  chanced,  in  December,  that 
we  were  staying  a  few  days  at  a  country-place 
in  Sussex,  and  the  subject  of  The  Sybarites  was 
broached  at  a  dinner-party.  The  book  was  then 
having  its  sale  in  England. 

"Crocker,"  said  our  host,  "do  you  happen  to 
have  met  the  author  of  that  book  ?  He's  an 
American." 

I  looked  across  the  table  at  my  wife,  and  we 
both  laughed. 

"  I  happen  to  know  him  intimately,"  I  replied. 

"Do  you,  now?"  said  the  Englishman; 
"  what  a  very  entertaining  chap  he  is,  is  he  not  ? 
I  had  him  down  in  October,  and,  by  Jove,  we 
were  laughing  the  blessed  time.  He  was  tell 
ing  us  how  he  wrote  his  novels,  and  he  said, 
'pon  my  soul  he  did,  that  he  had  a  secretary  or 
something  of  that  sort  to  whom  he  told  the  plot, 
and  the  secretary  elaborated,  you  know,  and 


The  Celebrity  295 

wrote  the  draft.  And  he  said,  'pon  my  honor, 
that  sometimes  the  dark  wrote  the  plot  and 
all, — the  whole  blessed  thing,  —  and  that  he 
never  saw  the  book  except  to  sign  his  name 
to  it." 

"  You  say  he  was  here  in  October  ? "  asked 
Marian,  when  the  laugh  had  subsided. 

"  I  have  the  date,"  answered  our  host,  "  for 
he  left  me  an  autograph  copy  of  The  Sybarites 
when  he  went  away."  And  after  dinner  he 
showed  us  the  book,  with  evident  pride.  In 
scribed  on  the  fly-leaf  was  the  name  of  the 
author,  October  loth.  But  a  glance  sufficed  to 
convince  both  of  us  that  the  Celebrity  had  never 
written  it. 

"John,"  said  Marian  to  me,  a  suspicion  of 
the  truth  crossing  her  mind,  "John,  can  it 
be  the  bicycle  man  ? " 

"  Yes,  it  can  be,"  I  said ;  "  it  is." 

"Well,"  said  Marian,  "he's  been  doing  a  little 
more  for  our  friend  than  we  did." 

Nor  was  this  the  last  we  heard  of  that  me 
teoric  trip  through  England,  which  the  alleged 
author  of  The  Sybarites  had  indulged  in.  He 
did  not  go  up  to  London ;  not  he.  It  was 
given  out  that  he  was  travelling  for  his  health, 


296  The  Celebrity 

that  he  did  not  wish  to  be  lionized  ;  and  there 
were  friends  of  the  author  in  the  metropolis 
who  had  never  heard  of  his  secretary,  and  who 
were  at  a  loss  to  understand  his  conduct.  They 
felt  slighted.  One  of  these  told  me  that  the 
Celebrity  had  been  to  a  Lincolnshire  estate 
where  he  had  created  a  decided  sensation  by 
his  riding  to  hounds,  something  the  Celebrity 
had  never  been  known  to  do.  And  before  we 
crossed  the  Channel,  Marian  saw  another  auto 
graph  copy  of  the  famous  novel. 

One  day,  some  months  afterwards,  we  were 
sitting  in  our  little  sa!6n  in  a  Paris  hotel  when 
a  card  was  sent  up,  which  Marian  took. 
"John,"  she  cried,  "it's  the  Celebrity." 
It  was  the  Celebrity,  in  the  flesh,  faultlessly 
groomed  and  clothed,  with  frock  coat,  gloves, 
and  stick.  He  looked  the  picture  of  ruddy, 
manly  health  and  strength,  and  we  saw  at  once 
that  he  bore  no  ill-will  for  the  past.  He  con 
gratulated  us  warmly,  and  it  was  my  turn  to 
offer  him  a  cigarette.  He  was  nothing  loath 
to  reminisce  on  the  subject  of  his  experiences 
in  the  wilds  of  the  northern  lakes,  or  even  to 
laugh  over  them.  He  asked  affectionately  after 
his  friend  Cooke.  Time  had  softened  his  feel- 


The  Celebrity  297 

ings,  and  we  learned  that  he  had  another  girl, 
who  was  in  Paris  just  then,  and  invited  us  on 
the  spot  to  dine  with  her  at  "Joseph's."  Let 
me  say,  in  passing,  that  as  usual  she  did  credit 
to  the  Celebrity's  exceptional  taste. 

"Now,"  said  he,  "I  have  something  to  tell 
you  two." 

He  asked  for  another  cigarette,  and  I  laid 
the  box  beside  him. 

"  I  suppose  you  reached  Saville  all  right/'  I 
said,  anticipating. 

"Seven  at  night,"  said  he,  "and  so  hungry 
that  I  ate  what  they  call  marble  cake  for  supper, 
and  a  great  many  other  things  out  of  little  side 
dishes,  and  nearly  died  of  indigestion  afterward. 
Then  I  took  a  train  up  to  the  main  line.  An 
express  came  along.  '  Why  not  go  West  ? '  I 
asked  myself,  and  I  jumped  aboard.  It  was 
another  whim — you  know  I  am  subject  to  them. 
When  I  got  to  Victoria  I  wired  for  money  and 
sailed  to  Japan;  and  then  I  went  on  to  India 
and  through  the  Suez,  taking  things  easy.  I 
fell  in  with  some  people  I  knew  who  were  going 
where  the  spirit  moved  them,  and  I  went  along  : 
Algiers,  for  one  place,  and  whom  do  you  think 
I  saw  there,  in  the  lobby  of  a  hotel  ? " 


298  The  Celebrity 

"  Charles  Wrexell  Allen,"  cried  Marian  and  I 
together. 

The  Celebrity  looked  surprised.  "How  did 
you  know  ? "  he  demanded. 

"  Go  on  with  your  story,"  said  Marian ; 
"what  did  he  do?" 

"What  did  he  do?"  said  the  Celebrity; 
"why,  the  blackguard  stepped  up  and  shook 
me  by  the  hand,  and  asked  after  my  health,  and 
wanted  to  know  whether  I  were  married  yet. 
He  was  so  beastly  familiar  that  I  took  out  my 
glass,  and  I  got  him  into  a  cafe"  for  fear  some 
one  would  see  me  with  him.  '  My  dear  fellow,' 
said  he,  'you  did  me  the  turn  of  my  life.  How 
can  I  ever  repay  you  ? '  '  Hang  your  impu 
dence/  said  I,  but  I  wanted  to  hear  what  he 
had  to  say.  '  Don't  lose  your  temper,  old  chap,' 
he  laughed ;  '  you  took  a  few  liberties  with  my 
name,  and  there  was  no  good  reason  why  I 
shouldn't  take  some  with  yours.  Was  there  ? 
When  I  think  of  it,  the  thing  was  most  decid 
edly  convenient ;  it  was  the  hand  of  Provi 
dence.'  'You  took  liberties  with  my  name,'  I 
cried.  With  that  he  coolly  called  to  the  waiter 
to  fill  our  glasses.  '  Now,'  said  he,  '  I've  got  a 
story  for  you.  Do  you  remember  the  cotillon, 


The  Celebrity  299 

or  whatever  it  was,  that  Cooke  gave  ?  Well, 
that  was  all  in  the  Chicago  papers,  and  the 
"  Miles  Standish "  agent  there  saw  it,  and  he 
knew  pretty  well  that  I  wasn't  West.  So  he 
sent  me  the  papers,  just  for  fun.  You  may 
imagine  my  surprise  when  I  read  that  I  had 
been  leading  a  dance  out  at  Mohair,  or  some 
such  barbarous  place  in  the  northwest.  I  looked 
it  up  on  the  map  (Asquith,  I  mean),  and  then  I 
began  to  think.  I  wondered  who  in  the  devil  it 
might  be  who  had  taken  my  name  and  occupa 
tion,  and  all  that.  You  see,  I  had  just  relieved 
the  company  of  a  little  money,  and  it  hit  me 
like  a  clap  of  thunder  one  day  that  the  idiot 
was  you.  But  I  couldn't  be  sure.  And  as  long 
as  I  had  to  get  out  very  soon  anyway,  I  con 
cluded  to  go  to  Mohair  and  make  certain,  and 
then  pile  things  off  on  you  if  you  happened  to 
be  the  man.'" 

At  this  point  Marian  and  I  were  seized  with 
laughter,  in  which  the  Celebrity  himself  joined. 
Presently  he  continued : 

"'So  I  went,'  said  Allen.  'I  provided  my 
self  with  two  disguises,  as  a  careful  man  should, 
but  by  the  time  I  reached  that  outlandish  hole, 
Asquith,  the  little  thing  I  was  mixed  up  in 


3OO  The  Celebrity 

burst  prematurely,  and  the  papers  were  full  of 
it  that  morning.  The  whole  place  was  out  with 
sticks,  so  to  speak,  hunting  for  you.  They  told 
me  the  published  description  hit  you  to  a  dot, 
all  except  the  scar,  and  they  quarrelled  about 
that.  I  posed  as  the  promoter  of  resort  syndi 
cates,  and  I  hired  the  Scimitar  and  sailed  over 
to  Bear  Island ;  and  I  didn't  have  a  bad  time 
that  afternoon,  only  Cooke  insisted  on  making 
remarks  about  my  whiskers,  and  I  was  in  mor 
tal  fear  lest  he  might  accidentally  pull  one  off. 
He  came  cursed  near  it.  By  the  way,  he's  the 
very  deuce  of  a  man,  isn't  he  ?  I  knew  he  took 
me  for  a  detective,  so  I  played  the  part.  And 
in  the  night  that  ass  of  a  state  senator  nearly 
gave  me  pneumonia  by  getting  me  out  in  the 
air  to  tell  me  they  had  hid  you  in  a  cave.  So  I 
sat  up  all  night,  and  followed  the  relief  party  in 
the  morning,  and  you  nearly  disfigured  me  for 
life  when  you  threw  that  bottle  into  the  woods. 
Then  I  went  back  to  camp,  and  left  so  fast  that  I 
forgot  my  extra  pair  of  red  whiskers.  I  had  two 
of  each  disguise,  you  know,  so  I  didn't  miss 
them. 

"  '  I  guess,'  Mr.  Allen  went  on,  gleefully,  'that 
I  got  off  about  as  cleanly  as  any  criminal  ever 


The  Celebrity  301 

did,  thanks  to  you.  If  we'd  fixed  the  thing  up 
between  us  it  couldn't  have  been  any  neater, 
could  it  ?  Because  I  went  straight  to  Far  Har 
bor  and  got  you  into  a  peck  of  trouble,  right 
away,  and  then  slipped  quietly  into  Canada,  and 
put  on  the  outfit  of  a  travelling  salesman.  And 
right  here  another  bright  idea  struck  me.  Why 
not  carry  the  thing  farther?  I  knew  that  you 
had  advertised  a  trip  to  Europe  (why,  the  Lord 
only  knows),  so  I  went  East  and  sailed  for 
England  on  the  Canadian  Line.  And  let  me 
thank  you  for  a  little  sport  I  had  in  a  quiet  way 
as  the  author  of  Tlie  Sybarites.  I  think  I  as 
tonished  some  of  your  friends,  old  boy.'  " 

The  Celebrity  lighted  another  cigarette. 

"So  if  it  hadn't  been  for  me,"  he  said,  "the 
*  Miles  Standish  Bicycle  Company '  wouldn't 
have  gone  to  the  wall.  Can  they  sentence  me 
for  assisting  Allen  to  get  away,  Crocker  ?  If 
they  can,  I  believe  I  shall  stay  over  here." 

"I  think  you  are  safe,"  said  I.  "But  didn't 
Allen  tell  you  any  more?" 

"  No.  A  man  he  used  to  know  came  into  the 
cafe,  and  Allen  got  out  of  the  back  door.  And 
I  never  saw  him  again." 


3O2  The  Celebrity 

"  I  believe  I  can  tell  you  a  little  more/'  said 
Marian. 

******* 

The  Celebrity  is  still  writing  books  of  a  high 
moral  tone  and  unapproachable  principle,  and 
his  popularity  is  undiminished.  I  have  not 
heard,  however,  that  he  has  given  way  to  any 
more  whims. 


THE   END 


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23Jui' 


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D  LP 


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AUG  39 


26  1S47 


24    S 


JW 


YB  73584 


U.C.BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


